


Pure Voice

by fishwolf2215



Series: Pure Voice [1]
Category: Flip Flappers (Anime)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-03-13 13:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 110,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18942004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishwolf2215/pseuds/fishwolf2215
Summary: A fic that shows what happens to Yayaka at Asclepius and in Pure Illusion during the events of Flip Flappers (Yayaka POV) (currently covers episodes 1-13 - completed)





	1. Episode 1

_Author's note: Hello! This is the first story I've written in... quite a while, and it's my first ever fanfiction, so I'm a bit nervous about posting it here! My original idea was to write a story that was a sequel to Flip Flappers, and the only possible way I think the show could have a sequel, but I Thought about it and I wasn't sure it'd make too much sense... or at least not without seeing things from another character's POV first. I don't know if I WILL write a story that's a sequel to Flip Flappers, heck, I'm not even sure if I'll finish this one, but it's the first time I've felt like writing something in a while, and I've actually been getting somewhere with it. I'll warn you now, the story might be a bit messy in places, I just sort of write as I go along, so there might be a couple of things that seem... well messy, but yeah. I've tried to take as much of the speech/actions of the character from the anime as possible (the subbed version I've seen), trying to get it to fit in, to 'fill in the gaps' as it were... either way, I hope you like it at least, and thanks for taking a look!_

_Each chapter will cover an episode from the anime... or if I continue with my story as planned, there might be a few extra scenes. For now, this chapter covers episode 1 of the anime, although it starts with a flashback from episode 9 because I felt it helped build the story a bit._

* * *

I befriended her at the hospital. It's what I was told to do.

My whole life, has revolved around experiments and tests and Pure Illusion. At first being your friend was a mission... but as we grew up, you became more important to me than you should have.

Cocona.

I'm so sorry.

* * *

_I first met Cocona at a hospital when we were kids. She was sitting on a large yellow couch and had just told her grandma she'd stay where she was, with a light smile on her face and warm brown eyes. Cocona's grandmother glanced at me as I walked past, with a hint of a smile on her face, encouraging me. She knew what I was about to do. At first, I didn't think twice about it, I was just doing what I was told, and if I did this, unlimited power would be ours, and all I needed to do was befriend the blue-haired girl who sat alone. Her smile had faded as her grandmother left her there, and her face fell into a sad frown. She looked so lost…_

_I thought this was going to be easy._

_To start with, it was. She was so caught up in her own thoughts; she didn't even notice me sit down next to her until I spoke "These places are always so depressing. All those tests are such a drag."_

_Simple words. They weren't a lie either. I was getting kinda sick of all these experiments on me. "I wish they'd get 'em all done in one go."_

_I smiled and turned to her at that point, her full attention on me. It was probably a shock to her when I leant over and looped my arm around her shoulder, as I asked "Don't you agree?". It was kinda funny to see her so bewildered at my actions. I'll remember that look of confusion on her face forever._

_"Uh, who are you?" She asked me. Heh. Ok, maybe I was being a bit too forward with my actions, a bit too friendly for a first encounter, but after all the stuff I've had to deal with today, I wanted to have some fun. I was probably a little bit mean, thinking back on it, but it was nice to be talking to someone my own age for once, and not some guy in a lab coat._

_"Yayaka." I said, a big grin on my face, arm still around her shoulders. "And you?"_

_She blinked at me then. I'd guess she didn't have too many people at the time who'd talk to her. Heck, I might even have been the first kid she'd ever spoken to. I didn't know much about her at the time, but she gave off the impression that she was pretty shy and not much of a talker._

_"Cocona" she finally said, a light blush appearing across her cheeks._

_"You've got tests now too, right?" I asked. She nodded and I continued speaking "Don't those suck? They're such a pain." Of course, I had a lot more to deal with at the time than she did, not that she'd know that, but I wasn't lying when I was saying they were annoying. It felt like almost all the time I was awake I was part of one experiment or another. If I was ever scared about needles and getting shots before, I was basically immune to that fear now with the amount of times I'd been poked and prodded. I looked down at my arms then. It was a little tough to tell sometimes if all the little holes on my arms are pores or were leftovers from all the injections I've had, and blood samples I'd given... And even then, "They stick those weird tubes in you..." IV drips with who-knows-what in them, connected to a heart rate monitor, being hooked up to a device that measured brain activity..._

_"For real? They do that?" Cocona asked me. "Will I have to go through that too?"_

_I looked over at her, into those scared, wide eyes. My conversation starter had gone a bit further into what I'd dealt with than I would have been willing to admit, but I'd gotten pretty caught up in my thoughts and had just started voicing them out loud. The poor girl's grandma had left her sitting there alone, and then there was this random stranger talking about all these things that'd happen to you when you were with the doctors... "Oh, but it's okay! I was fine!" I said quickly, trying to reassure her. Oh man, I've gone too far..._

_"Um, so you'll also..." Cocona looked at me terrified, her words getting jumbled as she spoke. Was she worried about me? Some person she'd never known existed before today? How could she care about someone she'd just met? Those brown eyes looked at me with such concern I was taken aback. Heck, I probably looked just as shocked as she did when I'd sat down and started talking to her. Beyond all the people at Asclepius, I didn't really know or talk to anyone else. Most conversations were pretty abrupt. I was pretty much another machine to them, but one that could go into Pure Illusion. Expermients only stopped when there was a chance I could die; they couldn't afford to lose this precious link to this other world and the key to unlimited power. I'd be patched up if I was in pain, given medicine if I was sick, but there was no warmth behind the actions. It was basically like being raised by robots. Each action was just a program they carried out and performed. At the time I didn't know much better, I thought that's how people were and that's how things would be. I was taken care of there, but that was about it... And then they wanted me to go and talk to this specific girl. This wide-eyed, blue haired girl. It was part of their tests and it was important that they got her to Asclepius to help in their search for the key to the power of Pure Illusion. Very few people could do it, only specific people. Asclepius had a pair of twins who could go too... I'm not sure I'd call them 'friends', maybe 'allies' but they were the only other people my age I knew... And they were just like everyone else at Asclepius. Human robots just following their programming..._

_But Cocona... Something about her just seemed so... genuine. She was worried about this person who sat down next to her and started talking to her two minutes ago. Already she'd shown more action and life in her movements and her voice then I've encountered in probably all my life. I felt... happy talking to her. A smile broke out on my face._

_"You're a nice girl, huh?" I'd asked her. At that time, I'd forgotten that I was meant to be befriending her for the sake of a bunch of cultists who wanted to rule the world. I was just... a girl. And I was talking to another girl. A human. Someone who had emotions and saw me as someone who was alive. For a few moments, I was_ with someone who cared.

_...And she was about to get tested on too._

_"You don't really wanna have them either, right?" I asked her. I knew how bad it could get in there. Maybe at a hospital it wasn't quite as bad as Asclepius... but what if it was? Being spoken to by robots, going about their procedures, looking at you like statistics on a piece of paper, than as another living thing._

_"Yeah." She answered. Couldn't blame her._

_"All right." I slid off the bench, and offered her my hand. "Wanna run away then?"_

_She gasped before looking up at me. I was pretty sure I had the biggest smile I'd ever had in my life on my face, and probably looked like a grinning idiot, but I didn't care. I was sick of all these stupid tests, and all those guys in lab coats. I could finally get away from it all, and I wouldn't be alone either if she came with me. Someone who seemed to actually have thoughts and feelings, a mind of their own._

_A friend._

_Slowly, hesitant, Cocona's hand reached for mine..._

I'd flopped forward on my desk during the mock exam at school, lost in my memories of how I met Cocona. I couldn't care less about the papers in front of me. It wasn't even a real exam, it wouldn't count towards final grades or anything, so why bother? I noticed that she looked out the window at some point during it. Didn't blame her, these things are boring as heck. Even if it was dark outside, the tiny yellow sparks of light that came from the nearby town were a lot more interesting to look at than the printed text on pieces of paper, we had to look at literally every day... Ok, maybe we saw the lights of the town every night too, but at least it's easier to look out the window and daydream about all the things you could be doing, than it is staring at things that would be meaningless as soon as Asclepius got their hands on the Amorphous.

Did I know what they were planning to do with it exactly? Not really, and I didn't care. For Cocona staring at the city lights and daydreaming, maybe about having an adventure like in all the books she's read, was probably as exciting as her life got sometimes. After all, she didn't have Pure Illusion like I did. I've been adventuring for basically all of my teenage life, going to all sorts of crazy and colourful worlds, facing danger every day, with the twins Toto and Yuyu at my side. Although I'd consider them allies rather than friends, I did need them to be there, not just for backup and extra fire power. You physically can't go to Pure Illusion alone. I don't know how, or why, but you just can't, and believe me, I've been forced through every possible way to see if it could be done.

Although I had company when I went there, I wished with all my heart that I could take Cocona with me. So badly I wanted to show her all the wonderful places we could go, all the sights and sounds and smells and colours... The twins could keep an eye out for Amorphous and I could take Cocona and show her worlds beyond her wildest daydreams...

Asclepius knew Cocona was the key to finding unlimited power, the key to Pure Illusion, and it was my job to befriend her and get her on our side. Apparently there was another team of people, Flip Flap, who wanted to study Pure Illusion, and in doing so, would take the amorphous from it. Amorphous were shards of power left behind by someone called Mimi, who was the first person to reach Pure Illusion (the only one who could go there alone), and they had the power to grant wishes. Asclepius wanted those shards so they could get that power for themselves. What were they gonna do with it? Not a clue.

It shouldn't be too long though before we can finally make a move. I think I've grown quite close to Cocona in the time I've known her, but it doesn't quite seem enough to take us both there yet. Being close to someone, syncrhonised thoughts and feelings, were meant to be the way to get you there normally. The twins could come with me, and survive, because of how they were made. Specifically crafted for the purpose of coming with me, so the search for amorphous could begin... but they couldn't go together without me. Why? How the heck should I know? I'm not a scientist, maybe they need to be near me or something for all I knew.

But then... even if I wanted to go to Pure Illusion with Cocona, would I want her to be caught up in this with me? I wasn't so sure. I mean, yeah, part of me wanted her to come to Pure Illusion with me, but at the same time, it was pretty dangerous there...

It turned out that it _wasn't_ too long before she'd head there herself... but not with me.

I caught sight of Cocona again a little while later in the school corridors.

"Oh, Cocona! You got called to the office?" I smiled and waved when I caught sight of her. I'm not too sure what it was, maybe because she was my only real friend in the world, but seeing her always made me day a little brighter.

"Our choices for the mock exams are due by the end of today." She said.

_Oh yeah... the mock exams..._

"I'd forgotten about that." _I was too busy thinking of all the things I could show you..._ "What a pain" _It might not even matter in the long run.. I barely have time to think about school in between all these missions I've been doing on... I should probably get a list of schools to move on to though, there's no telling when I'll actually find something..._

That's what I'd ended up spending my spare time doing, getting a list together of high schools I could move on to next. I just sort of threw it all together, not really thinking about what I'd actually want to do in the future... It's not like it'll really matter in the end, as Asclepius would probably just have me follow Cocona anyway whatever she chose. _Not that that would be a bad thing, I'd still get to see her._

I was sitting in the nurse's office on one of the beds next time we met, feeling a bit nauseous. Probably shouldn't have been eating cream bread in my current state, but screw it, I get sent to all sorts of places, have fought and dealt with hundreds of instances of god-knows-what, I deserve some damn cream bread, sick or not. Cocona was being an assistant to the nurse, keeping an eye on things when she wasn't around, although at the moment she was browsing a list of schools on her phone.

"You still can't decide? What's the big deal? You could get in anywhere." Maybe the words came out a bit harsh, but Cocona didn't seem to notice.

"I don't want to go just 'anywhere'" she said. _Oh Cocona... it might not even matter by the time you'd get to go there anyway_. I sent her my list of schools anyway, now wishing I'd put a bit more thought into it. She seemed kind of lost for what to do next to move on, and I wish I could do more to help.

She left the room when the nurse came in. I kinda wanted to call her back so I'd have someone to talk to again. Or at least someone who wasn't... one of them.

I guess I should be thankful the nurse was a part of Asclepius, I didn't have to lie if they wanted to send me out on a mission, or if I got a weird injury on an adventure, but at the same time...

"Go home if you're feeling sick" she said to me. There wasn't any look of concern on her face... or any look really for that matter. _Just another human robot following their programming. 'Go back home, to the main base where we can keep an eye on you, where we have better medical facilities than the one at your school. Come here, where we can stick more needles in you, take more blood samples, even though you've been to Pure Illusion a million times and have suffered no ill effects..._

_Actually, that might be where Toto and Yuyu came from. Maybe they were partly cloned from my DNA samples or something. That's why they can come with me, make sure I don't screw up or die. Maybe they need injections from me to be able to keep going there and survive..._

"Yeah, yeah..." I muttered. Being kept an eye on everywhere all the time was getting on my nerves. Yeah, Pure Illusion was dangerous, but at least while I was there, Toto and Yuyu were quiet. Ok, they were there to keep an eye on me too probably, but still, they barely spoke, and I was fine with that...

Speaking of Toto and Yuyu, they were the next people I encountered... Although they spoke few words, what they DID tell me was enough to set me on edge. They'd told me about a pink-haired girl with the hoversurf and a yellow robot that said Cocona's name this morning. _Flip Flap._ They were the only ones to have that kind of technology on them. They must be after Cocona too.

I had to move fast.

* * *

_Authors note: I have written 5 chapters for this story so far, but I'm not going to upload them all at once, I'm gonna try and figure out where the story is going exactly. That's a problem with having an idea for something and having it branch off in five different directions at once._

_Also, I apologise now for typos and stuff. I type pretty quick, and I don't have Microsoft Word or anything, so I can't catch all of them!_


	2. Episode 2

_This chapter covers episode 2 of the anime_

* * *

I waited for Cocona outside her house the next morning and caught the train with her to school. She kept looking over at her left arm and rubbing it, near the elbow. I'd heard last night that Asclepius had managed to track down where Papika and Cocona were and put a tracker in Cocona. I knew it would probably help in the long run, especially if she and Papika managed to get an amorphous stone on thier first try, whereas I've been searching for years and haven't even come across one... Maybe the pink-haired girl, Papika, had something to do with that... I'm not sure about it, but if they go there again, maybe we can follow them, or at least find more information. I probably wasn't meant to notice the yellow robot on the train, but it was kind of hard not to after Cocona had spotted it and clearly recognised it. The next thing... confirmed what the twins had told me about Papika.

She was flying outside the train on a surfboard wearing... a really weird outfit, but that, and the fact she called Cocona's name and waved to her with a big stupid grin on her face confirmed it.

Cocona was a part of Flip Flap now. And she's probably been to Pure Illusion with that pink-haired idiot.

Asclepius wasn't going to like this change of events, but Papika only showed up yesterday, surely there'd still be time to get Cocona to change sides... To join MY side. Cocona was my friend first, and I wasn't going to let her go that easy...

"What was that all about?" I'd asked when we were both in the classroom. I was sitting on the back of my chair, facing Cocona's desk, the sun catching her blue hair and her soft brown eyes. She didn't really seem willing to talk to me about it, I guess that was understandable, who would believe you if you'd told them you'd been to an entirely different world? I wish she did talk to me about it, I wanted to ask if she'd been to any of the places I had. _Had she seen the place that was all islands in the sky, land dotted among a sea of clouds? Did you visit the steel mountains, spirals of metal all twisting up from the ground? The volcano! Did you go to the volcano where the land erupted with fire of all different colours? Oh man, I have to take you there if not, it looks so cool! You can watch as the ghostly yellow flames melt into fantastic greens, sparking showers of purple? It's like the Northern lights, but there on the ground, or like a rainbow, of constantly shifting colours, and it didn't hurt to touch the fire either! Th eland around it might have looked harsh, but it's great! The fire can spurt out shapes sometimes too, like you'd get if you looked up at the sky..._

All of a sudden Cocona jumped from her seat and slammed her hands down onto her schoolbag.

"Cocona?" I was kinda worried now. She'd come into contact with an amorphous... did it give her power of some sort? could she read my mind now? But if she could, she shouldn't be scared, I didn't even THINK about any of the monsters I'd encountered... Would just one stone be able to give you that much power?

"Uexkull came with me!" Cocona exclaimed.

_Her pet rabbit?_ "Oh, big deal." _If the amorphous gave her powers she can't read minds then..._

"It IS a big deal! What do I do?" Cocona's panic about the situation suggested that my reaction may not have been the right one to have, but my thoughts just sorta spill out of my head sometimes. _Would it matter if the rabbit DID come to school by mistake? I mean, it could probably just hop about the school grounds and she could just go find it again... Or maybe not, a green rabbit would get lost amongst green grass pretty easy..._

Any thoughts I had that could help Cocona in her current dilemma promptly went out the window (or I should say out the classroom door) when it slammed open and Papika walked in...

Man, and I thought the thing she wore before was awkward. Now she was wearing some kinda puffed up princess outfit, or something you'd probably see a music idol wearing. _Was that Flip Flap's or Papika's idea to go around wearing that?_

"Papika?!" Cocona cried out, sounding as startled as I felt. _What the heck is SHE doing here at school? ...Maybe she's doing here what I'm doing here: trying to get closer to Cocona to get to Pure Illusion and find amorphous..._

"Cocona, Cocona, Cocona!" Papika half bounced, half charged to Cocona's desk in the classroom, barelling past mine. _This is who Flip Flap send? What kind of organisation are they? How can she just go galivanting around like that?_ _I mean..._

"Seriously, what's with you?" I asked Papika, slamming my hand down on the desktop in frustration. Cocona was my friend, and my target, first, and you just waltz in here to take her from me?

Papika paused before replying to me "...What was it again?" She asked. In the few moments I'd met her, I knew she was a complete ditz. Honestly, she could be a fairy straight out of a story book (or even Pure Illusion) and it wouldn't surprise me. She 'um'ed and 'ah'ed for a while before she proudly announced "That's right! I'm a transfer student!" saluting me in doing so.

_...Is this my competition? Is this SERIOUSLY who Flip Flap have sent to befriend Cocona?_

She looked at me with a big grin on her face. I didn't quite know what to do with myself, just sort of shook my head and shrugged and went back to my seat in the class before the teacher arrived.

I turned to look over at the two as Cocona was reading aloud from a book and Papika kept leaning forward, open mouthed, entranced with every single word that came form Cocona's mouth.

Pink-haired idiot...

I didn't really want to lose Cocona now. I've known her for years, and she's been pretty much my only real friend that whole time, and I could lose her any day now, not just to Flip Flap, but to Papika...

I got a chance to talk to her again though. Papika was following her all around the school, wouldn't leave her alone. I'd heard Cocona loudly telling Papika to go away from halfway down the corridor (I was in the nurse's office again) and called her into the room, slamming the door behind her. Papika looked through the glass, like a lost puppy. I was half expecting her to paw at the window and start whining. Instead, she recoiled and covered her nose. Mustn't like the smell of disinfectant...

Papika's howls for her lost Cocona could be heard through the door. It was a few minutes before she finally gave up and left, finally getting the message.

"Is she gone?" Cocona asked.

"Seems so."

Cocona, I was kinda happy to see, breathed a sigh of relief and looked a lot more relaxed than she had done lately, what with exams and having to decide what school to move on to next. The last time I'd seen her like that might even have been at the hospital where we met... I began to feel nostalgic for that time, when we were just kids, and although I was still with Asclepius at the time and being sent to Pure Illusion, it was basically a big playground to me back then... Toto and Yuyu (who have hardly changed in that time, literally. They were taller than me then, and now I've caught up to them as I've aged. But them being artificial humans, I guess that was to be expected. They were basically my bodyguards whenever I went there. In addition to trying to befriend Cocona to get the amorphous, I think Asclepius were hopeful I might be able to have found something myself, being one of few people on the entire planet who can actually go there...

"Thanks" Cocona said, dragging me out of my thoughts again. I grabbed her arm and asked her to wait... well, if I was being honest, I was trying to beg her not to leave. Don't go back to Papika. You've got a tracker in your arm... my hand is probably over it right now. You're in danger now. If you're with me, at least I could keep you safe. I can make sure no harm comes to you, but if you're with Flip Flap... You're... You're going to be my enemy. I don't want to hurt you...

"Yayaka?" I could only stare into those warm brown eyes. Lost in them. I always thought they were the warmest colour. Maybe not quite as bright as autumn leaves, but they had the same beauty to them. Those kind eyes that were worried about me from the moment we'd met and I told you about the tests... I don't want to let you go, I really don't... My whole life I've been surrounded by people that may as well be robots, and then I find you. Someone so full of life. So full of emotion... You'd tell me about all the story books you've read with all their fantastical worlds (I can show you even better ones! REAL ones!), you'd tell me about your grandma and how nice she was to you (Oh Cocona... you don't know...) and you'd told me about how you never knew your parents (You don't need to! I've never needed parents, I've been raised by an organisation my entire life, you can come with me! WE can be family!)

My grip loosened as my thoughts wavered... You can be stuck there with me... you'll have all those blood tests too, and although we'll be looked after, they won't care about you. They'll NEVER care about you...

My fingers slowly drifted from her arm.

And when they've used you, you'll be thrown out... discarded...

No.

I can't let you go through that. You don't deserve it...

But what about Flip Flap? Would they be nice to her either? And the pink idiot...

"You gotta spell it out to people like her, or they'll never get it." I told her. _You should get away from her, as fast as you can. You don't have specialised equipment I do, you don't have rocket launchers or bodyguard twins, you wouldn't want to face all the monsters I have. Please, Cocona... Just save your self._

There was a pause that felt like it went for an eternity before she finally nodded.

"Okay"

Phew... I felt myself collapse against the bed a little. I hadn't realised I was so tense... But to hear her say she'd tell Papika to go away and leave her alone, and that she won't want to go with her again... Could she really do it? I hope so...

"You softie" I said, turning away from her. Of course, you won't be able to do it. You're too kind, you'll get worried about her even though you barely know her, and you'll never want to stop being her friend either.

"Oh, Cocona, you softie" I whispered to the wall of the room, thankful she couldn't see me a a stray tear fell down my face at the thought of losing my only friend.

I decided to follow them after school that day, confirm if my worst fears were true or not... That they HAD been to Pure Illusion. Cocona's pet rabbit had gone missing and they were both hunting for it, running around the whole school calling it's name. Do you two WANT to give away the fact someone let a wild animal into the school? Is Papika's idiotic nature rubbing off on Cocona?

Eventually I'd followed them to the school gardens and... Lost them. Great. I don't really know how the heck that happened, I mean Papika has bright pink hair for crying out loud, in addition to her idol outfit you'd think someone like her would stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe I could go to the school nurse, see if she could contact Asclepius, see where they've gotten to, but in the time it'd take for me to do that I'll probably miss them. They can't have gone that far... Maybe I'll even find Uexkull while I'm at it, who knows? If nothing else it'll give me an excuse to talk to Cocona, maybe I can convince to join me...

I searched for a pretty long time, checking all the patches of grass and flowers, under the benches, in the trash cans, around the thinking man statue, and I even climbed a few trees, before deciding to sit down take a break, resting my back against the most recent tree I'd scaled, trying to see if I could spot the thing from above. Man, all this trouble trying to find her rabbit, why the heck did she have to get a green one, I mean, you put that thing out in a field and it's just gone...

My stomach rumbled, interrupting my thoughts. Oh yeah, I haven't eaten for quite a while. Who knows, maybe the food will attract the animal to me, saving a whole search.

All of a sudden there was loud mechanical whirr, almost making me jump out of my skin and drop my cream bread. I peered around from behind the tree to see the statue of the thinking man raised up in the air in a metal pole and... I'm not sure what that even is, some kind of weird vacuum cleaner? Whatever it was, it spat out Cocona, Papika, Uexkull onto the grass nearby, and launching the yellow robot Papika had into a nearby tree.

I sat there, open mouthed. Nothing like that just happens for no reason.

"Cocona... Now I get why you said you didn't want to go adventuring... I thought you'd die, too..." came a gentle and sad voice. It was really weird to hear that sort of tone coming from Papika, compared to how she was just this morning, beaming smiles everywhere and bouncing around like a kid who'd had too much sugar. That soon changed when Cocona said she'd go adventuring with Papika again, and she was hopping around with that big stupid grin on her face again.

I don't quite remember them leaving, or much else beyond that. It took a little while for Papika's words to sink it, and when they did, they hit me hard. Cocona had been to Pure Illusion... with someone that wasn't me. My heart sank in my chest. It sounded like she was pretty much on Flip Flap's side now, or I don't think she'd want to go there with me now at least. The way they looked at each other, Papika's bright blue eyes, shining with energy, and Cocona... looking so adoringly at her in return. Kinda hurt my heart to think about the look she gave her... The kind of look I wish she'd give me...

I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts again. What the heck was I doing? There wasn't an amorphous near either of them, but Asclepius would probably want to know that Cocona HAD been to Pure Illusion, what I'd seen had just confirmed it, and if the tracker worked, I could follow them there too. I can get amorphous back. The people there will actually become more human towards me, start treating me like a person, rather than another one of their machines...

Maybe I can get Cocona to my side with the amorphous' power...

Dropping my cream bread, I got up as fast as I could and ran towards the school nurse's office to report my discovery.


	3. Episode 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> covers episode 3 of the anime

  
It took quite a while to be able to track down Cocona and Papika and get the stuff together for a Hole to follow them to Pure Illusion. Although all my exploration over the years, has helped Asclepius with the technology, and how to work out the location Cocona was at without it getting scrambled too badly by the natural (Or unnatural) interference that surrounds the place, it still took longer than anyone would have wanted it to. Toto and Yuyu were standing next to me, staring blankly as they always do, while I was trying to just stand still. My heart was pounding and I was more ready to go to Pure Illusion than I've ever been, and time seemed to have slowed down horrifically to the point of I'd wondered if it stopped completely.

If the human robots ever broke their programming, they probably would have commented on the energy that was bubbling up in me. I think the head priest noticed something though. Although he stared from behind his large hood often, he seemed particularly focused on me today. Calm down. If anyone asks, you're just excited to have a lead. After all, if Cocona and Papika had found an amorphous first time around, and Cocona had the tracker placed in her shortly after they were captured, having completed their first adventure there, then that's GOT to mean something. Maybe Papika or the robot can track them down. Maybe the addition of Cocona changes something, like it would just land them in the general area an amorphous can be found. Or maybe it's all Flip Flap technology, I don't know, and I don't care, all I know is I just wanna get there.

I got the feeling more people were looking at me now and noticed Toto and Yuyu side-eyeing me. I don't know if they could communicate with each other telepathically, it wouldn't surprise me, I mean Asclepius would probably be able to hook people up with that technology, but I could almost picture them both thinking "Unusual behaviour" "Agreed". I was about to tell them both to shut up, despite them not having said anything out loud, when the large portal we were standing in front of flared to life, and one of the scientists approached us with a capsule.

"Remember. You're there for the amorphous" The high priest said, his eyes boring into mine. Yuyu looked up at him and nodded slightly, as Toto took the Hole device from the scientist.

"You guys good to go?" I asked them.

"Yes" They both replied at the same time. I don't know why I bothered asking them. They wore their combat gear all the time, permanently ready for the mission. Maybe I was hoping I'd get more than a two-word sentence from them. Fat chance of that though.

I stood there for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath, clearing my mind. Amorphous. We’re after the amorphous.  
The three of us walked into the portal as we'd done so many times before, and stepped into the unknown...  
\---

...And were met with a blistering heat. The sky was almost white, as if instead of just being a single entity, the sun literally WAS the sky of the planet. It certainly felt like it. Although the combat gear Asclepius equiped me with had some sort of temprature regulator in it, it wasn't perfect, and I could feel sweat begin form on me.

The land of this piece of Pure Illusion was endless waves of deep orange sand dunes. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised to end up in a desert world, it was definitely one of the more normal things I'd encountered here, to the point of I wondered if famous abstract artists of the past could see snippets of Pure Illusion in their dreams, but it still surprised me for some reason. You never know what you're going to get, but I guess I should be thankful it seemed rather normal for once. I reached into one of the many pouches of gadgets at my belt and pulled out a collapsible water bottle (complete with water), and a long brown cloak. Asclepius may have sucked in the human interaction department, but if they ever stopped the crazy cult stuff, they could make a fortune opening a camping store, I thought as I took a swig from the water bottle before squishing it back down and putting it into the pouch. clicking a button on my headgear provided some sort of scanning/targeting device, which could undoubtably come in useful later, but for now, acted like a nice pair of sunglasses.

Pulling the cloak around my shoulders, I turned back to look at Toto and Yuyu, being artificial humans, they had no need for sun protection like I did, and nodded at them. They began to follow me without a sound.

There wasn't any wind here, which I don't know whether to think was a little strange, or another thing I Should be happy about. The dunes would stay the same, and there wasn't a risk of sandstorms at the moment, but at the same time, although the cloak protected me form the sun, it got pretty stuffy under there, temperature regulation devices or not.

We came across an old rusted boat at one point that had a long-withered plant near the base of it, which had been disturbed. Toto clicked a button on his headset, a visor appearing over his red eyes, while Yuyu looked around, scanning the area.

"You guys getting anything?" I asked as I knelt down beside the plant, trying to work out what'd caused it to move.

"Nothing" "No" came the replies. No immediate danger at least, which was good, gave me time to properly examine what was in front of me. A small hole had been scooped out of the ground (I was now thankful for the lack of wind, if there was any, that sign would be completely gone), which suggested in addition to the disturbed plant, that something had been here recently.

"What about that tracker? Are you getting anything from Cocona?" I asked as I reached my hand down to touch the sand. Warm and coarse.

"No sign" came Toto’s reply. I was starting to wonder if the tracker WAS of any use to us, when my fingers caught a long strand of pink among the orange grains. Gently taking hold of it, I took a closer look at the sand. A slight indent appeared to be just below the hair I'd found. Despite Papika's hair standing out in almost any situation, it was pretty much impossible to see here, but it was a definite sign that she was here at some point and had collapsed. I called Toto and Yuyu over so they could get a better look. My visor was probably popping up with all sorts of useful information, but I couldn't focus on it too well as I frequently needed to wipe the sweat from my forehead, and although Asclepius' collapsible water bottle made the heat a bit more bearable, it didn't do any good to the headache that was starting to bother me. Reading was impossible for me in my current state. If anything, my visor was starting to annoy me now. It didn't fog up, no matter the temperature outside, but it may as well have been with all the damn words on the screen I couldn't read at the moment.

The twins however had no such problem, despite being pale skinned. they didn't even get a tan in summer; the heat may well have not even existed as far as they were concerned... Although their company wasn't the best, it was good I wasn't alone whenever I went here. They were pretty useful too, not being affected by the weather, I'd need them to tell me what the hell all these squiggles and blinking shapes on my visor were saying.

"Come here" I told them. They obeyed without question and both knelt down next to me examining the plant. Toto’s visor flashed up; with presumably the same lines of text I was getting.

"Papika found. Trackable.” Toto said. I knew there was a lot more than just that on our visors, but I'll take what I can get. We had info. Papika was here, and she can now be tracked...

Tracks...

If Papika was here at some point, and she's not any more, there should be tracks...  
Immediately I looked up, turning my head from side to side, partly to try and work the sweat from my eyes, partly to try and see if there were any threats of attack. Nothing. Relief was short-lived as my brain tried to think through possibilities. Did Papika take her hoversurf with her? She can't have. If she did, she wouldn't have collapsed here. Or if she did, then maybe something took her and the hoversurf away. But why would they do that? The yellow robot? Could it fly at all?

Looking at the twins, another thought just occurred to me, one I was pretty surprised never actually came to me until now...

Where the hell is Cocona?

"Incoming"

Toto instantly shot into the air after hearing Yuyu announce an attack. Yuyu’s robotic arm was raised, ready to attack, the normally blank look on her face had a subtle hint of alertness to it. Yuyu didn’t have a visor, but she has to have some sort of crazy senses to be able to know where enemies are. Maybe she could track body heat. All I know is there were a lot of circles and triangles appearing on my visor, showing me all the available targets for me to take down.

A large vehicle crested a sand dune, its riders cheering and whooping as it did so. I couldn't see them too well from here, but their skin was a greyish blue, and they seemed to wear little leather clothing, and all of them male. All of them had leather and metal masks covering their faces. There were a lot of them for sure, a tangle of arms reaching for the sky, all brandishing clubs, swords, and crossbows.

"Down there!" A loud but muffled voice called. One of the larger grey skinned people pointed down at me and Yuyu. Whether they'd even spotted Toto or not, I wasn't certain... Well, I wasn't certain for long at least. He let forth a barrage of rockets, black specks barely visible against the almost-white sky. A few of the guys on the boat looked up, and it looked like one of them was about to yell a warning, but he never got the chance.

Explosions ripped across the vehicle, thick metal panels ripping away from any shape the vehicle (which now I think about it, was some kind of hoverboat), fire shooting from any gap it could find, highlighting a number of people inside the boat too... although whether they were still alive was another question. Going by the fact they were all waving weapons around; they were very likely all hostile anyway. We'd find out pretty soon. A number of them were sprawled across the sand, all dotted along it. They didn't stay down long. The big guy who yelled earlier was the first to get up, and when he did, he charged straight for me and Yuyu. Yuyu had her robotic arm pulled back, ready to let loose a heavy punch if any of them came too close. Me? Annoyingly, the most I had in terms of close combat weaponry were sharp blades on the forearms of my combat gear. They were super sharp, and could definitely deflect a bullet (The guys at Asclepius made sure of that, although whether there were any guns in Pure Illusion were anyone's guess), probably a good thing too, although my body armour was kinda like Kevlar, there's no guarantee that could take a bullet. Those crossbows though...

Like Toto, I was also armed with rockets, but using them in the situation would have been tough. Targeting wasn't a problem, you could guide them with the visor really easily, but the problem was there were so many guys. This is why Toto was the ranger of the team. He was purposefully made to handle Pure Illusion, his eyes and processing power were a LOT better than just a regular person's. There could be a million things flashing on his visor, and in mere seconds he could register all of that information and deduct the best places to launch an attack, what would cause the most destruction, the best distraction, the biggest hit to an enemy’s forces...

Yuyu on the other hand was more suited for close combat, if her giant metal fist didn't give that away. Of course, she had rockets too, but she preferred to punch things. Couldn't blame her for that one, there's just something satisfying about landing a solid hit on an enemy’s face, although Yuyu could probably take someone's head off, no problem. She didn’t have a visor like myself or Toto. Simply didn’t need one. When she was made, they’d somehow given her really good eyesight. She could pick out an enemy’s weak point in an instant, and landing a hit on that exact point a second later.

But yeah, Toto was still in the air, me and Yuyu were ready to punch some dudes, when the big leader dude stopped dead in his tracks, pointed and yelled:

"HEY! THEY'RE CUTE GIRLS!"

The horde of guys stopped, lowered their weapons, and despite their masks covering their faces, I'd guess they were staring in awe.

...This is a first.  
"Hey, cuties, why don't you come with us? Us Iron Boys will take care of you, real good" The one I assumed was the leader asked. The Iron Boys all started calling to me and Yuyu, most of it was catcalling, they were pushing and shoving each other trying to get a better look. Some of them were yelling incoherent nonsense. I was half expecting them to jump around like a bunch of monkeys, with all their hooting and hollering.

...Please tell me this will be a last too.

"Screw that!" I yelled, and a soft voice next to me said "Agreed." I had no idea if they'd heard Yuyu at all over all the noise, but it surprised me at least. I glanced at her quickly, trying to work out if she'd meant it or if she was just sort of blindly agreeing with me. Her eyes were watchful and alert as ever, but her hands... I knew they were balled into fists, ready to fight, but her fists seemed slightly more curled than usual, the skin on her finger joints was white. Was she bothered by this? Honestly, I didn't really think of the twins as being real people before, what with them being artificial humans and all, but maybe they weren't quite as robotic as I thought they were...

There were more explosions all of a sudden. Sand and fire erupted in spouts all along the circle of Iron Boys. I ducked and tried to take cover, Yuyu had rushed over to me, metal arm raised to try and help shield us both. I didn't need to guess where the missles had come from. Toto was still above us; he must have taken the opportunity to strike while the Iron Boys were smitten with me and Yuyu...  
I needed to thank him later for that.

It wasn't long before Toto was on the ground again, the threat of attack gone as most of the Iron Boys were now burried in the sand. The odd hand could be seen waving weapons around and there were muffled shouts from underneath the mounds. Toto and Yuyu looked at each other and shared a silent conversation, which ended with Yuyu nodding. Toto looked at me, head cocked slightly to the side.

"Injured?" He asked. I shook my head. He nodded in confirmation and walked over to the ruined Iron Boys hoverboat and began inspecting it. Yuyu approached him silently and began to look the vehicle over too. Within a few seconds they were moving around, fixing what they could. Knowing Toto, he'd probably aimed where he did purposefully, enough to disrupt the enemy, but not enough to destroy the transportation. Although we had the Hole device on us, that was for getting back home, not for taking us around Pure Illusion. The sooner they got the vehicle working again, the sooner we could get going.

While watching the two get to work, so in synch without speaking a single word, for the first time I'd started to wonder about Toto and Yuyu. They were crafted for the purpose of coming with me to Pure Illusion as I couldn't go alone, but I'm not sure I'd really spoken to them properly before. I just sort of assumed they were like everyone else at Asclepius, a human robot following their programming, not really having emotions, or at least not showing them. Just another piece in the puzzle to make the plans come together, but Yuyu's fists tightening with the catcalls and Toto asking me if I was injured... I mean, the twins asked if I'd gotten hurt on missions before, and if I did, they would carry out first aid as required if I couldn't do it myself, but I wondered if he was worried about me then all those times before when he did ask. For the first time, I started to think maybe there was more to those two than everyone thought.

A rumble and a sound like an electronic pulse came from the vehicle Toto and Yuyu were looking over. It wasn't even a quarter as big as it was, carrying the horde of Iron Boys, but it was hovering, so

I'm guessing they'd gotten it working again, even if just for a short while.

"Get on" Toto said. One of the stray hands buried under the dunes, which was waving a club around seemed more exposed than it used to be, now showing a forearm. A quick look all around showed a number of the guys that were buried were starting to claw their way out, their shouts becoming louder.

You don't need to tell me twice!

I rushed and leapt onto the battered hovering... thing and sailed across the sand with them.  
\---

Tracking Papika was pretty easy, especially now we had a fast way to get around... although how long said way to get around will work is another question. It emitted sparks and occasional black puffs of smoke. Although Toto had probably done enough damage to make sure it would still function, the machinery itself seemed pretty poorly constructed, and even though the twins had carried out swift repairs, there was no way to tell if it would hold together long enough.

The heat was kinda worse on the vehicle in a way, although I didn't have to move around too much, I could feel it through my shoes, which made my feet uncomfortably hot. I took another swig from my water bottle, the cool water nice and refreshing, and thought about my previous comment of Asclepius making money in the camping business if they weren't a crazy organisation bent on getting ultimate power. Although they'd be pretty successful if they went along that road instead, they'd probably make more money if they entered military weapon development.

Speaking of weapons, it wasn't too long until we'd need ours again.

Our vehicle crashed after about 10 minutes, which I wasn't too happy about, but it'd be hard for the Ironboys to catch us up if they tried, so I was fine with that. We were pretty much at our destination anyway, as I heard a couple of screams. I recognised one instantly.

"Cocona!" I yelled. She probably didn't hear me. Crap. I activated another secret weapon my suit contained, one that would give me a burst of speed. It was still experimental, so probably wouldn't last long, if at all, but I had to get to Cocona. Toto and Yuyu weren't far behind me.

I wasn't really phased by the monster we encountered as I leapt over the sand dune and saw the great huge, bloated... twisted... thing. I tore the brown cloak from myself, and leapt over a crowd of... people, I guess, who I didn't even notice. Cocona was more important.

Getting a closer look at the monster, it looked a bit like it was... layered? Or, maybe a bit like it was bandaged up or something, parts of it were all wrapped around, apart from its bulging green, red and black eyes. It had legs kinda like a spider's, but more... like they were made of cloth. Thing looked friggin' weird to say the least. But a better look at it gave me another idea of a way to take it down.

In addition to my wrist blades and my rockets, I had another item with me: wire. Normally meant for grappling purposes, but in this case, it’d probably be pretty good at tangling up those long legs, or even then in my short burst of super speed from the suit, I could probably wrap it up pretty easy. This proved to be the case, and I threw a few remote-detonated bombs along the wires as I went, Toto having beamed information to my visor about the best locations to place them, bright yellow circles, nice and easy to see on the misted-up screen. My speed burst shorted out pretty quickly, but I couldn't be chased around anymore, so that was fine. Yuyu was close by. She launched a solid punch, with what looked like the force of a thousand bricks in your face, to the monster's belly. To say it went flying was an understatement. I quickly activated the detonator for the bombs, a cloud of fire swiftly covering me, Toto and Yuyu. I'm not even sure I could feel the heat of the flames even though I was surrounded by them. Maybe Asclepius made our combat gear to be fireproof. Or maybe I was a lot more frazzled by the heat than I realised... Probably shouldn't stay here too much longer.

The three of us stepped out of the fire and met with surprised and grateful faces. I admit I was happy that Cocona looked at me like that, it was kind of adorable. Papika on the other hand... Did she even help Cocona at all?

But these two, in this world with crossbow wielding catcallers, and big monsters like that...

"You're too naive" I said. Cocona's just in her school uniform, and Papika... she looks a bit more suited to surviving in the area, but she doesn't even have a weapon. How the hell are they still alive?

They both looked at me shocked for a second. Oh yeah, the visor. I quickly called it down and revealed my face to them. The white sky had become darker as time went along, I was no longer blinded by the sky.

"You can't traverse Pure Illusion like that." I told them, a smug smile on my face, I'd just saved their lives, and showed Papika I'd be a better otherworldly travelling companion for Cocona than she was. I've been doing this a looooong time...

The monster from earlier was melting away into pools of black goo and a purple shine peeked out from one of them. Could this be...?

I'd never really seen one in person before, but there was no doubt about it. I walked over and picked up the apple-sized crystal. Power was surging through it into my fingers. The heat from the desert world faded from me, a cool energy seeping into my body. Is this what it feels like to have such power? I turned it over in my hand. This'll sound strange, but I thought I could smell it too, a faint and slightly familiar smell I couldn't quite place. The rush of power I felt from the glowing stone seemed to grow the longer I held it. And to think this is just one amorphous. What can you do if you had more of these?

"Yayaka? Why?!" Cocona exclaimed, shocked.

"It’s only fair isn't it? We're the ones who finished it off." I said. Holding it was probably getting to my head, but how could it not? This is the first one I'd found. Papika and Cocona had somehow managed to find a world that had one, and not just that, such a large piece too. I'm guessing this is why Asclepius wanted Cocona so bad, somehow whereever in Pure Illusion she ended up, she would be near an amorphous. This was the second time she'd encountered one after all, and I've been searching for years and couldn't even find one.

"No!" Papika yelled. She ran towards me, hand out, reaching for the amorphous, the yellow robot chasing after her. I stepped to the side and stuck my foot out. Papika tripped over and cried out. The robot that was following her ended up running over my foot too and falling on its back. An idiot robot companion for an idiot girl...

"How did you transform?" Toto asked. I was a bit confused because the question wasn't directed at me, Toto and Yuyu would have known how every piece of my gear worked.

"Tell us" Yuyu said, aiming her giant metal arm at Cocona. Although she was a close combat fighter, in an emergency, she could shoot the giant arm and use it as a single use missile weapon. I'd only seen it happen once, and it wasn't pretty. I really didn't want to see that happen to Cocona so I spoke quickly, hoping to get Yuyu and Toto to move.

"Let's go. We got the Amorphous" I'll have to ask them what they meant by that later.

Yuyu's arm stayed up and pointing at Cocona longer than I would have liked it to, but it did eventually fall. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Toto lightly threw the Hole device onto the ground, creating a portal we swiftly went through.  
\--  
There was a short ceremony when we got back. The Amorphous we’d collected was absorbed into a giant structure, it looked a bit like a Y shaped stick, the main body of which was twisted, and it was topped with wings. An eerie red glow radiated from the top of it too. I’d seen it a few times before, but only from a distance, never up close. Being literally feet away from such a thing was… Call me crazy, but I felt a bit like I was standing in front of a monster, the red glow it’s eye, waiting patiently for someone to make a move, so it could pick them off easily. Something about it really unsettled me, being up close, and not for time first time I wondered if I was doing the right things, working for Asclepius. I didn’t really catch much of the speech, feeling overwhelmed in the presence of so many people and the giant tower in front of me, but I remembered something being said about Papika being half of a ‘Direct Drive’. I don’t know if I was meant to hear that, but it sounded important, so I made sure to make a mental note of it at least. Now I think about it, the fact they said something like that at all made me think there was more to Papika than just a pink-haired ditz working with Flip Flap. Toto had said something about a transformation she and Cocona had gone through… I must be missing something…

Suddenly my vision blurred and I felt dizzy. We were normally escorted to recovery rooms right after arriving back, but because I had something to hand over this time, heading there was delayed. My legs collapsed under me, and I could barely see. People in the crowed were just vague shapes. The robes made them look a bit like a bunch of snowy white hills. Toto and Yuyu both kneeled down next to me and put an arm under my shoulders, either side, trying to help me stand. Voices sounded like they were a mile away, even if the speakers were right next to my face. This definitely isn’t normal… Was the only thought I could muster before I fell unconscious.

\--

Authors note: I have no idea what happened to the formatting of this chapter, I tried to fix what I could. I hope it doesn't do this for future chapters, chapter 5 is... large, to say the least. I aim to upload a new chapter every week or so (although chapter 5 will have to be split due to its large size)


	4. Episode 4

_This chapter covers episode 4 of the anime_

* * *

I wasn't sure I was gonna make it to school after that last adventure, the sun in that desert world had messed me up pretty bad. I ended up in the nurses' office at school pretty often, so although I guess Asclepius tried to make sure I didn't flat out die, it was probably taking some sort of toll on my body at least. Apparently, the school nurse told me later that Cocona had been asking after me. I should be happy about that I guess, but there's no guarantee she would have said nice things to me after what happened yesterday.

Evidence that would have been the case happened when I saw Cocona and the pink-haired idiot walking in the corridors together. Cocona had been about to talk to me when Papika got loud angry upon seeing me. At least she had a proper school uniform this time, but she still didn't blend in too well, especially when the first thing she said to me was "Yayaka! Why were you there? Why'd you have it?! Why-" Oh shut up already. I clamped a hand over her face, getting her to shut up. How does Cocona put up with her? It looked like she had a lot more to say, but she just stood there and shook, and angry look in those puppy-like eyes of hers. It wouldn't surprise me if she started barking at me. Fine, I guess I'll talk to them. Or I'll talk so Cocona can understand at least. Not here though.

"This isn't the place" I told her. We could be overheard too easily here, anything we said would just echo down the corridors. I would have gone to the Nurse's office if I could, at least then I'd have some sort of backup, but I probably shouldn't blow the nurse's cover. If Flip Flap found out, they'd move Cocona and Papika to another school, or even homeschool (Base-school?) them. We could still find out where they went, what with Cocona's tracker, and if that failed for whatever reason, Cocona's grandmother, but by the time anything like that had happened Flip Flap could be way ahead of us in amorphous collecting, and I couldn't risk that.

We ended up talking in the school courtyard at lunch time. Cocona was eating something with chopsticks, and Papika was eating... what looked like a rice ball that someone had just up and emptied their entire fridge contents into. She took a huge bite before turning to glare at me and ask "Are you collecting them too?"

"For far longer than you have."

"Do you have lots?" Not really, but I ignored her question. Papika wasn't great at interrogating, this wasn't getting anyone anywhere.

"Didn't you have something to say to me?" I said, my voice taking an annoyed tone. I took another bite of my cream bread.

"You're eating nothing but sweet bread again" Cocona said. I tried to hide the grin that crept along my lips.

"You softie" the words snuck out of me.

Cocona seemed mad at that. She and Papika were sat on a bench in front of me, and Cocona had hunched over, her body tensing up. I wasn't sure what had bothered her about it, but I kinda wish my mouth didn't work faster than my brain, and that I hadn't said it out loud. I didn't mean to upset her.

Either way it seemed like this conversation wasn't really going anywhere. I walked towards them, figuring a peace offering might be an idea.

"You guys want to come with me?" Papika had turned her big blue eyes on me, curious. Cocona's head had barely turned, but she was looking at me too. "The more numbers we have, the quicker we'll find the amorphous.

Honestly, I was expecting Papika to leap up and get mad at me the moment the words left my mouth. The fact they sat there in silence for a little was a surprise. I'd meant the offer more to Cocona than to Papika, but both of them were here, I may as well throw it out there.

"Are you telling us to join you?" Cocona's look was peircing. It kinda hurt that she was looking at me with such suspicion... I couldn't blame her for it really though. I mean I have been lying to her for her most of the time I've known her...

As if she'd known what I was thinking, Papika darted in front of Cocona protectively with a big "No!"

"Papika?" Cocona sounded surprised, but if she was going to ask anything else, she was cut off.

"Never!" Papika's voice was loud, and absolute. Stupid idiot.

"Figures..." I mumbled. Papika would never change sides, and there's no way in hell she'd let Cocona change either. I guess I was done here...

"Why are you collecting them? For what purpose?" Cocona's voice caught my attention and I stopped walking. Should I answer truthfully? I guess I should. All the lies I've told about my life at home (didn't have one), what I did after school (I said played sports. Well, I'm athletic enough to handle Pure Illusion. After our encounter yesterday, she'd now know that wasn't the case) ... Would she even believe me if I told her the truth? Eh, screw it, might as well. "World conquest."

I thought I'd stunned them into silence when one of them let out a squeak I'd guess was supposed to be another question. I wasn't answering any more, I'd had enough.

"You don't know anything, do you?" Asclepius wants to take over and rule the world having ultimate power. Why exactly, I don't know, but if I'm on their side, then at least I'll be spared if it ever came to destruction. Hell, I was the only reason they could get their hands on the amorphous in the first place, they should be treating me a whole lot better than they do. I mean, yeah, I guess they took me in from the orphanage, and like I said before, they'd patch me up if I got hurt and stuff, and they put a lot of effort into their protective gear, but still, they only want me so they can achieve their goal. If I escaped, they'd just track me down. I'd been through so many operations and procedures I was pretty sure I had a tracker in my arm too, (I looked down at my left elbow and saw a few more holes left by needles. Must've had more blood taken from me when I was KO'd from the desert world) and would probably just be captured again if I tried to leave. Things were probably pleasant there at the moment, compared to how they could get when they find another potential candidate to travel to Pure Illusion. Asclepius aren't afraid about torture or killing, especially to get what they want. I don't know if they would actually kill me if I was their only link at the moment, but they had an awful lot of chemicals in their lab they wouldn't be afraid to test on a human Guinea pig...

Papika yelled for me to wait. She's taken away my only friend, and now I have no chance of recruiting her and guaranteeing her safety if Asclepius DID get their hands on the amorphous. I've had enough of you... I sidestepped out of the way, turned and tripped her up. She'd managed to plant a hand on the floor and bound into a flip, landing on her feet, and I shut the door on her. I don't know if she'd bother following me, and I was pretty glad that she didn't.

Thinking about the safety of other people, I couldn't help but think about the twins for a second. I know they were purposefully created to help me hunt the amorphous and come with me, but what would happen to them after? Would they be destroyed? Would they remain there?

I thought back to back when the three of us were in the desert and Yuyu's white-knuckled fists at the perverted Iron Boys, and Toto asking if I was fine after the attack, and then the two helping me to my feet after I collapsed at the end of the last mission. They were small, but there were signs of humanity in there. Maybe I should try talking to them.

The thought made me nervous, but I wanted to thank them for helping me at least. Befriending Cocona had probably kept me sane all the time I'd worked for Asclepius, and she was the only one who was nice to me… or so I'd thought. Even if Toto and Yuyu didn't really have emotions or anything, they've been with me through so many adventures and all sorts of trouble all those times we were in Pure Illusion, I owed them a thanks at least.

_What the heck is happening to me? I never really cared about them before all of this…_

Finding them wasn't too difficult, they always travelled as a pair, and most of the time when they were here, you could find them in the lab where they were created. At first, I'd thought that's what they were made to do, just go back there after every mission, but now I was starting to wonder if that was the case…

They were there, alone, sitting in chairs and both reading books. _Good. I'm not sure I'd really want anyone listening to us._

"Hey, you two" I said. Two pairs of faded red eyes turned to look at me, and all of a sudden, I thought back to the statue that absorbed the amorphous and the red glow. _Can I really trust them?_ Doubt started to enter my mind, but I was here now, I figured I should say what I came here to say at least.

"Uhhh… I wanted to say thanks for… the other day" My voice became quieter the more I spoke, and I looked off to the side, not quite able to look at them both. I told myself it was because of the statue rather than because I was saying something I wasn't used to saying. The words didn't quite feel right to me.

"What do you mean?" Toto asked. His voice was as blank as the look in his eyes, but I swear it rose in pitch towards the end of his question, just a little bit.

"I mean…" I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed. _How would Cocona say it?_ "You guys probably saved my life yesterday" _And every other day we've been to Pure Illusion…_ I ended up staring at the cast on Yuyu's arm, finding it easier to look at a cartoon-style animal's head than the twin's eyes. "Toto especially, with those rockets. Good aiming" I said, eyes flicking up to meet his, before falling back on Yuyu's animal-shaped cast.

Toto's head tilted to one side, ever so slightly, the only response he gave me.

"Why?"

I looked up at Yuyu, as she'd spoken then. I think her eyes were slightly more closed than usual. _Suspicious maybe?_ I wasn't entirely sure what she was asking, but I took my best guess.

"What, I'm allowed to say it, aren't I? I can say whatever I want" I was getting defensive now, my arms were out, as if I'd just challenged Yuyu to a fight. She didn't have her combat gear on, so I was pretty sure I didn't have to worry about it. Her punching arm was in a cast anyway, what could she do to me?

"Unusual" Toto was the one who'd spoken this time. "Are you Yayaka?"

I blinked, stunned. That wasn't what I'd have expected to hear that from him at all. He said it in the tone of voice you'd use when you ask 'who are you, and what have you done with so-and-so?' when a friend of yours says something they usually wouldn't… But that's the thing, he said it _jokingly._ The very corner of Yuyu's mouth turned upwards at that. The difference was minute, but you wouldn't notice it unless you'd been around them all the time.

' _Been around them all the time…' 'when a friend of yours says something they usually wouldn't…'_

I shook my head, trying to clear it. _Could I be imagining things? This isn't normal._

That was when I remembered I had something else to ask them. "Yesterday you asked Papika and Cocona how they transformed. What did you mean by that?"

"You didn't see them?" Although it was a question, Yuyu's voice had none of the tone that Toto's did earlier. Again, I began to wonder if I was imagining things… or maybe Toto is more advanced than Yuyu, who knows.

"Couldn't see a lot. Had the cloak's hood up, and my visor was misted up"

They looked at each other for a while. _Deciding how much to tell me?_

"They both have amorphous in them." Yuyu eventually responded. I was about to ask what she meant exactly when Toto added more; "They are granted power in Pure Illusion."

_That's how they can survive without battle gear…_

I don't know what it was, but I began to think about Cocona and Papika together back at school. How Papika was ready to defend Cocona, and even then, how they must have survived at least three different Pure Illusion worlds. How they became close enough to travel there together on what must have been their first meeting was beyond me…

That thought hit me harder than I would have liked to admit.

I left the twins alone at Asclepius, left the base and decided to head to the school building. I don't know what exactly I was doing, but all I knew was I wanted to be alone, and away from everything for a bit. Pretend I was just a normal kid who had to worry about studying for exams, and who didn't feel slightly dizzy all the time due to Asclepius demanding blood samples (another reason why the nurse at the school works for them, she knows by background. If I need more blood, she'll have some on hand… Now I think about it I probably don't want to know where that blood has come from)…

_Think about something else, anything else…_

_Cocona…_

I sighed and leaned against the side of a building for a while, closing my eyes, head pointed to the sky.

I could have told her right then, on that day in the nurses' office. _"They put a tracker in you. My hand is over it right now. Your grandmother isn't real, she's an android made to watch you._ but I looked into those warm brown eyes… and could only think of how I would lose my only friend.

Growing up, I'd gotten a few chances to meet up with her again since the original hospital visit, and I was pretty glad for that. I was being watched the whole time of course, by Asclepius in the form of Cocona's 'grandmother', but it was probably as close to freedom as I got. I'd tried to escape from it all that day at the hospital where I met Cocona, but we were dumb kids, so we didn't get far before we were caught again. But in that time when we hung out, Cocona told me about all the story books she'd read. All these knights and heroes in armour saving princesses from castles, superheroes who would fight bad guys and aliens, stories of spaceships and the alien planets they visited…

I could see that almost any time I wanted, I mean, Pure Illusion was crammed with all of those things (apart from maybe the knights in armour, but I'd seen a few dragons in my time), but the way she told me these… Sometimes she'd read directly from the book, and show me pictures if there were any, but other times, she'd just start telling a story, and she never stopped. Her eyes shined as she came up with the next part, and she threw her arms out, trying to show how big something was, and she'd stomp around pretending to be a monster… It was a little hard to picture her like that now, she seemed so focused on studying, but she really had a way with words. With all my previous experience in Pure Illusion, sometimes I'd add something, and she'd jump up and her smile would widen at another little detail she could add to her story, and sometimes it might even change the whole plot. More than a few times, the stories she told were ones of us travelling together and living out these crazy adventures. Those ones were definitely the most fun. We'd battle monsters, and fly through the sky on the backs of giant birds, and swim in the sea will all the dolphins and the fish, and meet a mermaid, and we'd fight the evil slime monster at the top of the volcano (Cocona found this one hilarious, it took her a while to stop laughing after my story-self kept tripping up and flailing, and I acted it out in real life). Her enthusiasm was adorable, and she had a charm to her when she told me all these grand adventures, her descriptions of everything making all of these things feel as real to me as Pure Illusion did…

I realised I was smiling at my memories only a few seconds before my face fell into a heavy frown. _I wanted to show her some of those things I added to those stories… I really did…_ _And now I might never get the chance because Papika came along and ruined everything._

There was a tiny meow from around my feet, and I blinked away tears that had been forming in my eyes so I could see clearly. A grey and white cat had approached me in the time I was thinking and was looking up at me, eagerly with its yellow eyes.

"Hey there, kitty cat" my voice was slow, and quiet. I didn't really feel like speaking, but I felt I should reply to the animal, not that it could understand me, as I knelt down. The cat brushed against my hand, and I began to scratch it under the chin. My action was met with a purr and the cat's eyes closed, clearly content with the attention I was paying to it. Something about seeing the cat, seemingly smiling at me, calmed me down. I was disappointed when it left, but as I stood up, I felt a new determination in me.

_I'll get Cocona back from Papika. I'll follow them to every world I have to, if it means I can stop her getting dragged into this chaos._

It was a little while shortly after that thought that I saw the twins both looking at me. If they'd come to fetch me, that normally meant one thing.

It was time to head off again.

I walked back with them to Asclepius' base, the thoughts of getting Cocona back fresh in my mind. It wasn't long before I was running with the twins alongside me.

_She was mine first, Papika. You're not going to take her away from me.  
_

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_Authors note: Right, I'm warning you now, I'm going to post the main story Chapter 5 in 2 parts, so I'll post one half one week and the second half the other. Why? Because otherwise the whole chapter would be 18,000 words in one go. I am not kidding! Some of you may wonder why I say 'the main story'. Well... at the start of episode 5 of the anime, you see a couple of screenshots of adventures that weren't animated in the show, and I wanted to see if I could fill in those gaps, so there'll be one extra adventure in this fic at least! Thanks for reading if you've made it this far, I hope you like my stuff!_


	5. Episode 5-Adventure 1

_Authors note: The part of my fanfic that'll cover episode 5 will probably be a lot longer than you might be expecting. Some of you may be wondering how or why that is/will be, as surely there's only so much you can write about the otherworldly school… well the reason for that is that I wanted to try and build up on Flip Flappers more, and near the start of the episode, there's 2 screenshots/stills from adventures in Pure Illusion that we never actually get to see fully animated in the show… What happens in them? I have no idea really, I make things up as I go along and I haven't thought too much through at the moment, but I've studied those screenshots/stills for a little while and think I may have come up with an idea or two as to what we missed out in them… Well, according to my story at least._

_I've written one adventure inspired by the first still from the episode. I'm… not so sure how it turned out, but if anyone wanted extra Flip Flappers story, then you've got it! I hope you like it (this chapter is inspired by the screenshot of adventure we see 1minute 11seconds into the episode (I tried to post a picture, but it didn't work)_

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I almost fell into oblivion when I next took a step through the portal and into Pure Illusion, if Yuyu hadn't grabbed me as soon as she stepped through, I would have been a goner. My heart leapt in my chest bad enough when I missed a step going up and down stairs, I placed a foot forwards, not even thinking everything would be fine, just assuming, when you would have thought for all my experience in this place that I would have thought to double check where I am first before just blindly stepping out. At least this time it was just a seemingly endless drop, if there was lava or acid under me there would have been no chance of rescue.

Toto was already scanning the area with his visor, his and Yuyu's feet safely planted on what looked like a floating Tetris block. It was pretty narrow, not much space to stand on. My fear was messing with me, as Yuyu put me down onto the platform I knelt down, not trusting my sense of balance. Heights had never bothered me before, but trust me, if you thought you were fearless and you looked out over that gap, you'd be terrified too, I wanted nothing more right then than to cling to the rock I was on and to never let go.

Although there were other clumps of square blocks all around us, like unraveled Rubik's cubes, above and below, all suspended in the air, they were all moving a lot faster than anything that size should have been, it was like they were all on invisible train tracks, their paths were never disturbed and they all just kept going…

I craned my neck, looking up, and regretted it. Aside from the blocks, this world was an almost colourless void. Pieces of red, yellow, blue and grey all swam along against a deep empty blue nothing. I didn't know if there was a top, or a bottom to this place, and I didn't really want to find out either way. Looking back down at the platform I was barely balancing on (Toto and Yuyu were just standing there, completely unaffected, although Yuyu had now joined Toto in scanning the area) I noticed the patches of colours around our feet.

On all the other blocks in the area, it appeared that each side was one colour, but here, the spot just beneath where I was made it look like I was leaking a bright yellow patch of light into the rest of the otherwise solid-grey block. If anything, it looked kind of like the colour was spilling from my hair… Looking around, I immediately wondered if the red and blue sides of the other blocks meant what I thought it did.

"There" Yuyu said, pointing with her great metal hand. It was kinda hard to look at what she wanted me to see, I was trying not to step over the edge of the platform we were all standing on, trying to maneuver myself so I could have a look, and making myself feel dizzy in the process, but I saw what she meant and seeing circluar red and blue patches melding together into a purple that could be seen nowhere else in the entire area could only mean one thing.

They were here.

…And going by that large chunk of stone heading towards them, they wouldn't be around for too much longer. I was about to cry out, as the two pieces collided and coloured shards of stone shattered, each drifting off in different directions when the colours in the area shifted…

Where the event happened, where Papika and Cocona had just been standing, the red light on each segment of floating rock that had just been red became a bright cyan, and the blue ones faded into a bold magenta. All around us the colours echoed the change, red becoming cyan and blue becoming magenta. I'd been about to ask what it meant when two bright dots of light, with glowing hair matching the changed colours around them darted from one large Tetris block to another, the cyan-haired one lagging behind.

Although Cocona and Papika were our rivals, our competition, I was glad to see they hadn't been killed here. Being crushed to death wouldn't be pleasant, but still if they were moving…

"Where's the amorphous?" I barked the question to Toto, who was still looking around. He stood almost still on the spot, the only thing about him that changed, showing any sign he was alive and not just a statue that had been planted here were his red eyes, flicking to various flashing dots appearing on his visor.

"There" He said, an instant before his jetpack activated and he was gone in the general direction Papika and Cocona were going, Yuyu launched herself with a powerful jump shortly after. _Why did I even ask? Of course, those two would be heading there for that reason._ Stupid fear, this place was gonna get to my head before long.

It took a while for me to stand up on my shaky legs, and convince myself to go super-speed after Toto and Yuyu. I shot from the narrow Tetris block I was standing on, to one that was a short distance away. Gravity _seemed_ pretty normal in this place, I jumped and made it to the next one without too much trouble. _Ha! I can do this!_ I had to try and pep myself up, encourage myself to move after every leap. Although it became easier and easier to traverse, there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind wondering what would happen if my speed-boosters shorted out on me. I stopped on one block for a second, hesitant to move on because of that thought, but I had to keep moving. Yuyu was too far away to grab me with her arm and save me if needed, and I was pretty sure Toto wouldn't be able to catch me with his jetpack, especially if I fell in super-speed.

A large cube of a rock barreled past me, barely missing my head. Ok, maybe it was a good thing fear made me stop for that second there, I'm pretty sure, helmet or not, that could have easilly taken my head off—

_Why am I not using my headgear?_

I reached up and clicked my visor on, the segments of the metal helmet encasing my head as the visor uncurled itself over my eyes. There was a chain of yellow circles hovering over each potential platform, arrows showing which way they were moving, how fast…

The circles started blinking in a sequence, showing me a path, I could take to catch up with Toto and Yuyu, and a single small word flashed on the screen too:

WIRE.

I looked down at my hips at the coils of wire I'd used to take down the monster in the desert world. _Grappling wire!_

Fear was making me stupid. I didn't need to use this risky experimental super-speed technology at all!

I was pretty worried about the using the wire at first, I wasn't even sure if anything I aimed at meant it would be a good target, trackers or not, as the stones were always moving so it was hard to see what would happen next, but somehow, Toto and all his calculations came through for me and I managed to navigate the area pretty well.

We'd all caught up to Cocona and Papika in a few minutes, which I was kinda surprised about because the rocks were all getting further and further apart from each other. Those two, who may have just been doing short hops before, now had to try and force themselves off of one platform to make it to the next, the cyan and magenta clouds of light they gave off falling on the blocky platforms, shifting the colours around, as if they were spotlights on a dancefloor. Toto wasn't quite struggling, but his jetpack probably couldn't last too much longer in terms of fuel. Yuyu had resulted to using the rockets on the back of her metal arm to try and shoot herself along, both of them appearing to absorb any coloured sides they landed on, leaving them a dead, cold grey.

_Almost as dead as this area was…_

…Or so I thought.

At first I'd thought were were in some weird blue endless void, but if I looked ahead, there was a pale light. Subtle wisps of smoke rippled in the air around us. Flames growled softly ahead and I saw… something round.

"Is that a rocket ship?" I don't know why I said it out loud, I guess I was just in such disbelief about what I was seeing. I don't know how long we'd actually spent in here, but all I knew was that I wanted out as soon as I could. Although I was able to safely grapple myself to the next platform as long as the path was still highlighted for me to take, but the fact that everything was just so angular, and the rocket was the only rounded object that wasn't a person… it was so unnatural, so abnormal in this area, that it kinda freaked me out a bit more than the who-knows-how-far-drop that was below me.

But at the same time, the fact there was something so strange and out of place here could only mean one thing.

"We're almost there! Keep going!" I yelled. The twins had never stopped moving the whole time I'd thought all of this out. I knew they wouldn't have reacted to me calling out in the slightest, but still, I wish it felt like I wasn't talking to myself.

Catching sight of Cocona and Papika, I thought I saw Papika's eyes widen and her mouth fall open in a awe-struck smile (it had to be her, even if her hair was cyan now and her eyes were pink, that grin was far too stupid to have belonged to Cocona) and heard her call out "It's here! I can smell it!" and Cocona's worried voice telling her to be careful (or that's what I would have guessed by the look on her face, hearing was out of the question as a large rock floated nearby, blocking the sound out.

Yuyu must have heard Papika, and changed target without missing a beat. The moment her feet touched the next rock in front of her, she suddenly darted off to the side, trying to land a hit on Papika.

The look on Papika's face went from sheer joy and wonder, looking at the rocketship, to anger, as she saw Yuyu incoming for an attack. I wasn't really sure she'd have time to react, but she'd managed to twist her body fast enough so Yuyu's fist crashed into one of her scaled wing shields. Much like the world around us, the rainbow of scales on the shield washed out into a grey on the impact. Papika returned Yuyu's attack with one of her own, carrying the momentum from her previous twist, a fist of hers, covered in what looked like a heavy white metal, decorated with a large blue gem, thrust out, aiming for Yuyu's face.

It wasn't long before the two were trading swift blows and punches with each other.

"Papika!" Cocona cried out. Her hands were clasped to her chest, frozen in worry as she watched Papika and Yuyu fighting, each footfall splashing cyan and grey, along an otherwise magenta side of stone.

"Cocona! Go!" Papika shouted, trying to hold Yuyu off.

Cocona blinked and looked slightly taken aback for a second, hesitant to take her eyes off the fight, before slowly nodding and continuing leaping from platform to platform, leaving magenta ripples in her path.

Mesmerised by the fight between Papika and Yuyu I almost didn't catch Toto's call of "Yayaka!" bringing me back to reality. I cursed myself for getting distracted so easily, and shot off again-

Wait a second, where the hell did all the yellow targets on my visor disappear to?

_Oh crap._

I was already in the air. Toto was standing ahead on cuboid-mountain of a platform, drifting not too far ahead of me. I guess at least if his stuff powered down, it wasn't a bad place for it, fetching him would be easy enough...

...If I hadn't just fired a grappling hook off without a second thought.

And then I looked down.

Oh geez, why did I do that?

The wide expanse of nothing yawned beneath me, only a couple of stray blocks I'd have to hope to hell I could grab onto if my shot failed.

I looked back up at the black cord I'd fired, which look like I'd shot it just a bit short, and thought for one horrible moment, that would be it. _This is how I die._ I tried to find Cocona's magenta hair amongst the block-ridden void so if I died, at least I'd have a nice last thought about my only friend-

All of a sudden I was pulled through the air. My suit propelled me upwards towards the block my grappling wire had fallen short of, and I was really confused until I saw the hook embedded in Toto's hand, as he knelt as low as he could, arm stretched out, in an attempt to save me.

_Wow, that looks painful..._ _But he caught me._ It wasn't long until my feet touched the stone next to him, my yellow light melding into his grey.

"Go" he said, barely giving me time to register what was going on, he'd tapped the side of my helmet and activated my speed booster, and using the grappling hook stuck in his hand, flinging me in the direction of the rocket.

He probably knew I'd be fine, or I highly doubt he would have taken action if he knew it would have ended badly (Asclepius can't lose their only ticket into Pure Illusion after all), but at the time, all I wanted to do was scream, wondering what the hell had gotten into him. This place has shaken me a lot more than it should have done. From now on, I'm always gonna make sure my feet are going to touch solid ground when I step out of Asclepius' portal, rather than just stepping out blindly. I've been in death defying situations before, plenty of them, but this one really shook me, the stress of basically having to race another team for the amorphous now in addition to nearly falling to my death twice really wasn't a fun thing to experience, although thankfully it was all almost over now.

Toto had managed to aim me at the rocket, and I grabbed onto it just fine. Logically at the angle I was standing it I should have slipped and fallen off the side, but I didn't care. The rocket having its own gravity was fine with me, no chance of falling off by mistake… It was pretty difficult to try and walk against the wind though, superspeed or not, I felt like I might as well have been walking into a wall of snow, it felt about that cold with the wind rushing past too. Even though the rocket's gravity had basically glued my feet to the surface of the vehicle, I was happy it wasn't a slippery surface too. Yeah, falling off isn't a thing I'd need to worry about, but slipping around at however fast my suit could make me run would probably be more disorienting than this whole area.

It'd gotten to the point I began to doubt that the end of the rocket was indeed where the amorphous was in the end when my visor beeped at me, and I caught sight of a tiny pink glow against the steel sides of the rocket. I thought for a second I was imagining things, but no, it was very definitely a pale pink, and since nothing else in the area had that same colour, it had to be the amorphous.

I heard another thud of footsteps land on the rocket just as I got about halfway up. The magenta patch that bled onto the plated metal body suggested that Cocona had caught up to me.

"Yayaka!" She called out to me. My brain froze when she called my name and I stopped walking for a second before forcing myself to push on against the wind that battered me… it was weird, I was going to the top of the rocket, but it didn't quite look like I was getting any closer, if anything the floating rock platforms were getting further away…

Naturally, in that moment I paused my speed booster shorted out. I know the technology was experimental, but I really needed to talk to Asclepius about this, especially considering I nearly died earlier.

My device's break down had allowed Cocona to catch up to me quite a lot. I was about to yell back down at her, warn her, or try and drive her off somehow _"I've almost died twice in this place! Hell, you almost got crushed! Get out of here while you still can! Live your life, you don't need to do this!"_ when a cyan-haired girl landed near Cocona on the rocket and flashed the magenta-haired girl a big grin.

"I caught up!" Papika said, clearly proud with herself. She only stayed like that for a moment though, and her eyes narrowed when she saw me at the other end of the rocket. She started to try and race after me, Cocona not far behind. I think they were talking, but I couldn't really hear words over the noise of the wind around me.

_Ugh, screw this. I can almost get out of here…_

Suddenly, there were two black dots above us, heading this way. Fast. For a second I thought it was this world's defense mechanism, and that although most of the Tetris-like platforms were moving away from me, that some were gonna drop down and destroy the whole thing, but as they got closer, it just turned out to be Toto and Yuyu, who'd decided to catch up to us.

Although if they'd fallen to get to me then that means…

The rocket landed at that point. The wind that was almost impossible to walk against stopped, and I don't know what happened next exactly, I'd guess my speed booster sparked to life again for one second, but suddenly I was at the top of the rocket, my yellow glow almost completely drowned out by the light of the pink amorphous.

I heard Papika yell up "Not fair!" when I got to the top of the rocket. I thought I could hear her and Cocona arguing after that, but I was too far away to hear them. The pink glow was drawing me in. I reached out a tentative hand to touch it, and the light around it sparked green for a second, as did all the yellow sides of all the floating blocks. All around me, the floating rocks had returned from their cyan/green/magenta to their original red/yellow/blue, the amorphous becoming pink again too.

I stood up over the edge of the rocket and looked down to see Papika and Cocona on the ground, both having de-transformed, standing in their school uniforms, Papika was glaring at me with her blue eyes, and she yelled up at me again that it wasn't fair, I'd assume talking about me getting to the top of the rocket, and therefore the amorphous, long before they did. Toto and Yuyu were standing stoic either side of me, like bodyguards, looking down at the two of them. Finding my feet, I held up the amorphous for all to see.

"We win!" I yelled down at them. Papika's cheeks puffed up and she frowned in annoyance. I glanced at Cocona and was a little shocked to see her looking so irritated as she looked between me and Papika, before turning her back to us and walking off. _Did they have an argument? Is that why they de-transformed?_

Ah well, who cares. That was that. Adventure over. Toto threw a Hole device and the three of us hopped through it back to Asclepius' base.

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_Authors note: I admit I'm not quite happy with this chapter/story I came up with. Typing 'block' so much started to bug me. Also, if you're reading this story, you might not believe me when I tell you Papika's my favourite character in the show. I just find her kind of adorable, but for the sake of the story I'm having to portray her how Yayaka would see her: as an annoyance. Honestly I was worried about writing Yayaka at first because I wasn't sure how much I'd have in common with her, I thought I'd be able to write Papika better if given the chance, but as the story goes along I'm finding Yayaka easier to write and Papika a lot more difficult than I expected… Although I'm not quite sure if my Yayaka is quite what you'd expect from a character like that, but it's just how it's turning out as I'm writing._

_It was kinda tough to think up why Cocona and Papika were both in school uniforms in the shot and not their transformed stuff, so in my head, they had an argument. Papika wanted to be more aggressive/attack Yayaka, and Cocona didn't really want that to happen to her friend. Not feeling the same/not as in-synch, it forced them out of transformation._

_It turns out I couldn't think up an idea for the second still we see at the start of episode 5, so next week I'll post up the first half of the main story of chapter 5._


	6. Episode 5 - Main Adventure - part 1

_Authors note: I'll be posting this 18,000 word chapter in 2 parts for the sake of sanity, I'm not sure how many of you would want a super massive chapter to slug through, which means part 1 will be posted this weekend, and the second part the next one after that (it also gives me time to write future chapters! I'm working at what's a pretty slow pace for me, but I'd hope to have the final episode's chapter ready/finished for the weekend it's meant to be posted at least, at the rate I'm going.) But yes, Why did I end up writing so much? Well, from the times we saw Yayaka in the show, I thought it was pretty clear that she'd been there for a while, long enough to know how everything worked in that world at least, so here we see how that came to be..._

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I know Asclepius is still working on their Hole technology, but if they could program the thing next time so Toto, Yuyu and I weren't drenched in acid rain that began to melt our combat gear and make me feel like I was about to bleed a river, that would be great. Thankfully there was shelter nearby, an old run-down school building, which could be an ideal home for a vampire, with its pointed roofs and towers. Throwing open the gates as fast as we could manage (I struggled pretty bad, feeling weak from the constant burning sensation) but Toto and Yuyu had no problems pushing it open for me, which lead me to landing face-first on the cool stone ground. I crawled as quickly as I could out of range of the rain that tried to chase me through the doorway. The twins shut the door, following me after I was safely inside. Red lines ran down their pale skin, as if they'd walked into a large bloody spider's web. They were standing on their feet steadily, which I wasn't sure whether to be surprised about or not.

"You guys okay there?" I asked them, receiving a nod in unison as an answer. Their clothing was in a similar state to mine, frayed holes in more places than I'd like. _What about our weapons?_

One hand went to my head to activate my visor, only for it to make a harsh buzzing noise in my ear. I didn't quite want to risk testing my rockets, (who knew what lived here and what attention a loud noise and/or fiery explosion could attract?) although going by the fact my targetter was out of commission, even if I wanted to fire one, aiming would be down to dumb luck. Seeing what I was doing, the twins began to check their own equipment. Toto's headgear seemed largely unaffected, a message flashed on screen for him just fine, along with long scrolling strings of information, but that didn't do him any good anyway.

"Missiles jammed" Was all he said. Yuyu looked down at her giant metal arm, which vibrated slightly at her side. Her eyes narrowed the tiniest amount in concentration, but no matter what, all the arm did was shake at her side.

"Weapons offline" Yuyu added.

I'd wondered if I could take his headset from him and try using it, see if it could tell me about my rockets, but even if tried his headset on, there's no guarantee it would work for me. Asclepius custom made all of our gear, if they programmed everything to our strengths, then I probably wouldn't be able to register even a fraction of the information Toto could if I had that thing on my head.

_If there's anything hostile in this world, we're screwed._

I was about to test my grappling wire when a loud noise rang all throughout the building, making my jump. _A bell._ _There's a bell tower here. If we need to go there later, I shouldn't risk wasting any of this now._

The bell rang again, the noise flooding the corridors. Amongst the crashing sea of sound belonging to the bell as it chimed, echoing throughout the building, there was something else underlying…

Giggles.

Giggles and fast footsteps.

They were quiet, but they were there.

And coming closer.

I gestured to Toto and Yuyu to follow me, even though I had no idea where we were going. We couldn't go back outside again, not with the rain out there, but we should probably move, or at least try and find a place to hide. Those giggles could be completely innocent for all I know, but a flash through the windows, highlighting statues and casting shadows that looked like monsters from the stories Cocona told me, and a heavy rumble in the sky, as if one of those monsters was roaring as it hunted for us in the building, told me otherwise. Countless footfalls could be heard underneath the giggling now, coming from all directions. We were surrounded by noise.

The twins must have come to the same realisation I did, as we all stood back to back at the point, we realised there wasn't an easy way out of this. Toto stood still, but his eyes showed a hint of alertness. Yuyu had her only working arm raised, ready to punch, her mouth a tight line as her metal arm shook at her side, desperately trying to get it to respond, but coming up with nothing. I followed suit, raising my arms, ready to slash with my arm blades (thankfully in one piece) if I had to. Even if I could get my equipment to respond, I doubt my super speed would be any good here. The most I could do would be to leave Toto and Yuyu behind, but that wouldn't have been right. If we were going to face death, I'd rather have someone to face it with. I'd be a coward if I just abandoned them, the number of times they'd saved my life on all these adventures.

Shadows crept around the corners of the crossroads-corridor we were standing in. Being a school, I shouldn't have been too scared by the sight of a bunch of schoolgirls in sailor uniforms, heck, it's probably one of the most normal things I've ever encountered in Pure Illusion...

But you weren't here. Their legs didn't run smoothly as they made their way to us. They sort of... flickered. All in unison too, although amongst the tide of bodies some seemed to shift and teleport and change positions. I thought the twin's skin was pale and grey before, but it was nothing to the pale bone-shaded skin the girls had. Flawless too, no marks, no injuries... all as if they were made made from the same mould. Despite that though, their hair looked pretty normal... even if most of it consisted of various curtains of black. The uniforms they wore were stiff, almost as if they were made of stone, and when they did move, it's as if they were waterlogged, heavy, dripping... But their faces... Their heads were featureless, minus what looked like a child had just scribbled with a marker all over them. I'd guess that's where the giggles were coming from, going by the fact the sound moved with the horde of these girls... but that's the thing, when I say their faces were scribbled on. No holes. Just flat. No logical or physical way for them to make any sound at all. No hint of sight either, yet they knew exactly where to find us. The scribbles danced and shifted along their faces as they all walked.

The bell rang out an eleventh chime, and that was when everything went dark.

* * *

 

I was pretty surprised to find I could wake up at all.

I sat up to find myself looking at the other end of a bunkbed, my head brushing the ceiling of the bed I was on. The sheets around me felt... thin. Kinda floaty, and a little rough. Old... yet not a single stain, or rip, or tear.

I turned myself around and sat with my legs over the side of the bunk, only to pretty much get up the instant I did so.

"Toto!" His name came out of my mouth before I knew it. He was slumped over a chair, still in his damaged combat gear, eyes closed. All the blood was gone from him, thankfully, but that didn't mean he was fine. Thinking about the blood, I checked my own hands. They, were clean, as were my clothe-

_What the hell am I wearing?!_

Toto was still in his combat gear, but when I looked down at myself, I was wearing... some kinda night dress? The material of it was similar to the bedsheets, only slightly frilly too. Made me feel a bit like I was in the Victorian era, although I wanted nothing more than to rip these clothes to shreds and find get my old school uniform back, or at least my jacket so I could hide the frills...

_Where is Yuyu?_

It was at that point I turned back to face the bunk behind me. I clambered up the ladder and was relieved to see Yuyu there... although, like me, she was also wearing some sort of frilly night dress. She, too, was awake, although...

"What happened to your arm?" I asked. Looking down at it, I think it just occurred to me, I'd never actually seen Yuyu's arm before. The cast was gone, and the giant metal fist wasn't encasing it either, it was... plain. Normal-looking.

"Unknown" Yuyu answered. She lifted her left arm... with great difficulty, her eye twitched and mouth pulled back slightly into a tiny grimace. I was only watching, and it was painful. "Weak" she added, a small hint of annoyance to her voice, although whether she was annoyed with the lack of her metal arm, or at herself I didn't know.

I got down and stepped away from the ladder so Yuyu could get down from her bunk. We both found Toto awake, looking at us.

"Hey" I said, greeting him. His eyes trailed to Yuyu's arm, or lack of cast on it. Yuyu turned her head away.

"Alive" He said.

"Yeah, for the moment we are" I replied, running a hand along my night dress. _Ugh, are there any other clothes around here?_ I walked over to the chest of drawers Toto was sitting next to and opened them. Folded neatly inside were school uniforms, replicas of what the students we saw wearing last night. _Screw it, it's better than nothing. At least it'll help us blend in._ I grabbed one and put it on, Yuyu following suit. Toto stared at the uniforms in the drawer, hesitant for a while, before putting one on too, over the top of his combat gear. That's a point...

"Any idea what happened to our stuff?" I asked Toto, tying my bangs up over the top of my head with a ribbon. I don't know if he'd seen anything at all, but out of the three of us, he was most likely to have done, being in a chair facing the rest of the room, rather than lying down on a bed.

"No" he answered. _Damn._ I guess we were alive, and even then, our stuff was in pretty bad condition anyway, but still, I would have felt a lot better if I knew I'd have stuff I could fight properly with it I needed to. Arm blades are fine for single-enemy close combat, but the fact we were swarmed on our first night here suggested they'd be pretty much useless in this part of Pure Illusion. Heck, the rockets probably would be too now I think about it. Toto could take out groups in the right locations if he planned his shots just right, but the floors and walls here were pretty solid. I doubted destruction could save us. Sure, if we made a hole in a corridor it could be an easy escape for us, but there were a _lot_ of... creatures here. We could probably take some out, or block their paths, but ultimately, we'd probably end up dead. Trapped in a building, with no way to escape, and beings that would probably just bring you back, or worse, kill you if you tried...

_Sounds just like Asclepius._

It was at that moment that the door to our room opened, followed by an attempt as speech that sounded like the voices were a thousand insects, trying to coordinate their wings so the buzzing resembled language, but also like the sound was trying to come through static you'd hear on an old TV.

"qrE3Tinqs" the scribble-faced schoolgirls peering around the door buzzed. _How the heck am I meant to act? Should I just go along with it? That'll make them less likely to kill us, right?_

"Hey there" I said with a little wave. Yuyu and Toto both nodded at the arrivals, replying to the girls with "Greetings" of their own. The instant Toto moved his head, all the students turned to look at him. Their heads all turned to the side, dropping like an unsupported doll's head, rather than being controlled with muscles in the neck, and the voice they'd used to speak began to hum in their throats, growing louder with each second. _Are they suspicious? Do they know he's a guy?_

Thinking quickly, I grabbed Yuyu's good arm and dragged her behind me, as I shoved my way past the schoolgirls in the corridor and stepped out into the hallway with them. The door closed on Toto and the buzzing stopped. Just cut out. Mentally breathing a sigh of relief, I noticed all the schoolgirls walking down the corridor to another room, including the ones that had come to fetch us. Their movements were a lot more natural this time, but that didn't make the horde of girls any less threatening to me, especially going by how they acted yesterday. _Was this a good thing?_ It wasn't perfect, but it felt a lot less dangerous than what we encountered yesterday. Blending in seemed to be the way to go here. I turned to Yuyu whose eyes were questioning, and I gestured with my head to follow the crowd. Like most orders I gave, she followed without objection, maybe catching on to my thinking.

I don't know how long the corridor was, it was really hard to get a sense of distance in here, but I know I hadn't been along here before (or not that I remembered being awake for at least, we were probably carried here when we were found), along one side were some large stained glass windows… I was pretty sure they were stained glass, admittedly kind of hard to tell what with the sky outside in a permanent state of rain, but it was segmented into mostly pale and cream shapes. White lilies if I wasn't mistaken. Even though everything in the building so far, apart from my hair, seemed to be dyed in every shade of grey from 'cloud' to 'shadow', the stained-glass window… I don't know, I guess the fact it was a nice decoration just added a bit more life to the building…

The school girls all seemed to be splitting up and going into different rooms. I didn't really think about it, but I turned into one myself, Yuyu silently following. Catching a quick glance at the sign above the door before I disappeared around the corner, I saw it was the 'Home Ec.' room. The room was pretty packed already, all but one of the tables were taken by girls, each sitting and doing embroidery (thankfully, mostly with different timing. There were a few girls who were stitching, pushing and pulling the needle and thread all at the same time, but I guess that was to be expected here), the whole place lit by a few stray candles. Instead of casting a warmer colour around the room, I felt like the lighting in here resembled that of a dirty street light in the city, it felt about as inviting.

Yuyu and I took a place at the remaining table and looked down at the wooden embroidery circles. Cloth was already trapped between them, ready to be worked on. I'd never really done sewing before, so I wasn't really sure what I should be doing. It took a lot longer than I'd like to admit to thread the needle that was sat on the table (and even longer to sort out Yuyu's her bad arm's shaking making it impossible for her to even attempt. She gave me a quick grateful glance before getting to work). I sat there for a while trying to copy what I'd seen of the other girl's sewing. Using the needle was fine, but the thread I'd tied to the end kept coming loose from the needle. Did I not tie it tight enough? Was it too tight? _How the heck does this stuff work?_ I'd started growling and grumbling under my breath, which bought the attention of some of the schoolgirls on me. Their faces were shadowed by their hair, and I couldn't see any of the scribble markings on them, but I thought I saw a couple of flashes of red creep along their faces, I gulped nervous, and tried to keep quiet. Key word being 'tried', I'd managed to stab myself with the needle a number of times, which wasn't helping my increasingly bad mood. I thought I could hear the insect buzzing starting to echo in the room. _Calm down. You're going to get caught at this rate._

I went to change the colour of the thread on the needle I was using, and somehow managed to 'ping' the needle out of my hands.

"Oh, for sugar's sake…" I cursed and was about to reach under the table to try and fetch it, when the buzzing became almost deafening. I sat up straight, quickly, and saw all of the school girls looking at me, red lines appearing all over their faces, forming the 'eyes' and 'mouths' they had the other day. Yuyu must have noticed my distress, as she took my scrappy embroidery away from me, swapping it for her own. Her work was all one colour (I'd picked out a dark blue. Something about the colour seemed vaguely familiar to me) but incredibly neat monotone replica of the outside of the school building. I couldn't remember too much of it from my short time outside, but the more I looked at Yuyu's embroidery, the more details I could recall, and all of it looked like it was to scale too. Nothing was out of place or out of proportion… There was something a little odd about it though, just a thin outline in the background of a clocktower. I didn't remember seeing it when I looked at the building at all, and even then, on the embroidery it was really hard to notice, just a thin shape compared to the solid blocks of the other parts of the school.

"This is really good!" I said out loud. I didn't think I'd find myself appreciating sewing, but having tried it myself and failing horrifically, I'd found a new respect for it. The smile on my face was probably bigger than it needed to be, but I just felt… really enthusiastic about it for some reason.

It was at that point I'd noticed the buzzing has stopped and all the other students had gone back to their work, not paying the slightest bit of attention to us. Yuyu had probably just saved us from being found out. I looked up from her work to look her in the face and thank her to see her looking back at me with a tiny smile twitch at the corner of her mouth. Maybe it was the lighting but her face seemed to have a bit more colour to it than it usually did, just a slight tinge of pink. She went back to her sewing work, and I'd noticed she was holding the wooden ring in her bad arm, and the needle in her good arm. I mean, that was what I thought I'd see, or how I would have thought she'd done the work so neatly, but the wooden ring was shaking in her other hand pretty badly. If it wasn't for that, she looked like she was a natural at it… It wasn't long before I noticed the twitch of the smile at her mouth, due to praise, became a grimace, along with a slightly narrowed eye as she was trying to focus getting the needle and thread to work with her. I was about to ask her a question when the background noise in the room suddenly grew loud again. I hurriedly went back to admiring Yuyu's piece, cutting the dark blue thread from the needle, and swapping it out for another colour (just plain black this time. I didn't want to risk ruining Yuyu's work too much). It got easier to thread the needle each time I wanted to change the colour, or remove my current one and add some more to it as I'd run out. I ended up adding bricks to the clocktower's outline Yuyu had done. I probably ruined it, but half of everything about this building looked old and crumbling anyway, surely no one would care if the clock tower looked like it was about to fall apart.

A bell chimed in the distance, and as one, the schoolgirls all stood up and moved to the door, presumably to their next class. I wondered for a second what would happen about our embroidery, but didn't wait around for long, not wanting to attract too much attention to us. I stood up, Yuyu following suit, before walking out the classroom with her, blindly walking with the students, not sure where we'd end up next.

It was a little hard to think sometimes, I thought I could feel Yuyu looking at me, but whenever I'd turn back to look at her, her eyes had flicked away, although her face still seemed to be slightly pinker than I remember it being… I wasn't sure what was up with her. Maybe without her metal arm she was in constant pain and was trying to tell me or something, but wasn't sure what to say exactly.

I kinda forgot about that as Yuyu and I came to a stop outside a room with the sign 'Music room', I saw a couple of free seats inside and lead Yuyu in there. Surely nothing could go wrong in the music room?

Thankfully, it was probably the easiest 'lesson' to sit through. There was a single piano in there, being played by a pair of girls. Basically all we had to do was sit back and relax. Easy enough. The song was nice too, sounded kinda nostalgic or something… Yuyu was just staring straight ahead the whole time. I had no idea if she thought anything about music at all, and there were no hints that was the case. _How much do I know about the twins?_ Not a lot now I thought about it. Yuyu punches stuff, Toto shoots stuff… That was all I could say for certain. _I've been working with them for so many years, and I hardly know a thing about them…_

The music lesson was over quicker than I would have liked, the sound of the bell pretty jarring compared to the peaceful flowy melody that filled the room just seconds ago, but it was time to get going again. At this point I was getting pretty hungry, and wondered if there was any food around here. I'd kill for some cream bread right about now…

Yuyu and I wandered around aimlessly for a while, while I was trying to sniff out food. She didn't seem to mind too much. Either way, just as we were passing a library thankfully it wasn't too long before I caught the smell of tea, and I assumed there'd have to be a cafeteria or some sort of eating area in the building. I wasn't quite sure why there'd be one here, as the students here didn't have anything resembling a mouth visible half of the time, but I didn't care about that. There was food here, and as far as I was concerned, that was all that mattered.

We ended up in a place that looked like a fancy tea room from an English hotel, as if the place had just somehow been absorbed from a black and white photograph and was just a part of the school now. I didn't really think too much about it as I was almost drooling a river over the sight of warm brown tea in a cup, cakes, sweets, and best of all…

"They have cream bread!" It was hard to try and keep the happiness out of my voice, but screw it if I sounded too suspicious, look at the cream bread!

I sat down right away, picked up a piece and took a bite. Oh man, it was _so good._ Honestly probably some of the best I've ever tasted in my life. Yuyu slowly took a seat opposite me and stared down at her teacup while I began to stuff my face. It hadn't hit me until just then how hungry I must have been. I don't know how much time had passed between now and the last time I had something to eat. Maybe a day or two? From not feeling hungry at all, to suddenly feeling like my stomach was a pit, I ate all the cream bread that I could see. Well… almost all of it.

"Not hungry?" I asked Yuyu. Her eyes hadn't left the teacup in that whole time. _Does she even need to eat or drink?_ Being an artificial human, I'd guess some things were taken into consideration, and others were left out entirely, but when you've been specifically crafted to travel in another world, needing to eat was probably one of the first things removed. I picked up the last piece of cream bread on the plate and held it out, offering it to Yuyu. She shook her head, dismissing my offer. As I bought my arm back towards me, catching sight of the colour of the tea and holding the bread I finally worked out what was familiar to me about the blue thread Yuyu had used in the embroidery lesson…

_Cocona._

The thread wasn't too far off matching her hair, and the warmth of the tea… I pictured Cocona in my head, hands on her stomach and doubled over, unable to control her laughter when we were making up stories…

I missed her.

_Would I see her again at all?_

I couldn't be sure. Asclepius' hole device managed to mess up pretty bad this time, and being out in the acid rain probably hadn't done it any good, along with the rest of our equipment. Would we ever be able to get back? Would we be stuck here forever?

What is Toto doing right now? We'd just sorta up and left him alone trying to save him from the school girls, in case they went crazy again or something… _Is he okay? What if he's been captured?_

I dropped my cream bread and ran off.

_Where the hell was the room we stayed in?_ It really didn't help that most of these doors looked identical, there were no clues what lead where, beyond the odd sign outside a classroom door, most of which I didn't even bother reading as I ran past (The few rooms I could see into revealed more rooms that looked just like the ones Yuyu and I had spent time in earlier, the only different one was a large library). We didn't get chased or anything as we ran around, I'd guess the schoolgirls were too caught up in their own activities to notice anything too out of place at the moment…

Have I been here before? I ran past stained-glass windows with white lilies, and the order of rooms in this corridor looked similar, to one I remember passing a few minutes ago. _Oh great, does this place loop on itself?_ I growled in frustration. _Why is this so difficult? I swear the building didn't look that big from the outside._ I leant against a wall, panting, trying to catch my breath back, having run non-stop for the past ten minutes.

"Yayaka"

I spun around to face the voice of the person who spoke, arms up, ready to fight if I had to, only to drop them upon seeing it was just Yuyu there.

"Oh, man… Yuyu, don't scare me like that…" my hands were on my knees and I'd bent over, panting. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest, like a panicked creature blindly thrashing, trying to escape a trap. _I'm never gonna make it out of here alive._ Despair was starting to creep in. _If the schoolgirls don't get me, my own damn fear will. There's no way out. We're stuck here forever…_ It was a good couple of minutes before I'd recovered enough to stand up and face Yuyu properly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her usual monotone sounding fifty thousand times more concerned than I would have expected would be possible for the twins. I couldn't help thinking of Cocona again after hearing how Yuyu sounded. It's the sort of thing Cocona would have asked me. She'd maybe put a hand to my face, gently turning my head from side to side to check I hadn't accidentally hurt myself. After that, she'd check me over, she was an assistant to the school nurse after all, she knew basic first aid and would want to make sure that I hadn't over-exerted myself running around like that, especially with my reputation for getting sick (in reality needing to be called out to Pure Illusion on a last minute bases, but playing sick a lot of the time was an easy way to get out of school)…

I closed my eyes tight and shook my head. _Cocona isn't here. She is not coming here; she's not coming to my rescue. I have to help myself in this situation. I'm on my own… I'm stuck. Trapped. We have no weapons, and no contact with the outside world. Even if we could find the faulty Hole device that took us here, there was every chance it couldn't be fixed. We can't get out. This is my life now…_

_Cocona… I need you here. I need you to tell me stories of monsters and princesses. Tell me about all those boring science books you read, getting as technical as you want. Scold me about eating too much cream bread, and how it'll make me sicker than I already am. Hell, tell me about Papika, tell me about all the fun you're having without me, I don't care, I just want to hear your voice again… And see those warm chocolate colour eyes, hair as soft as the night sky… All this stupid stuff, running around in other worlds, working for a bunch of cultists, I can't…_

_I can't take this anymore…_

At that point I felt fingers lightly touch my cheek "Cocona…" I let out a quiet whisper before opening my eyes, purple and shining with tears, meeting with a blank red stare. _Yuyu…_ My heart skipped a beat for a second, shocked. I was hoping to see Cocona, I'd forgotten Yuyu was there with me. Her skin looked softer than I remember. Radiant. Her silver hair shone like liquid glass… For a second, I couldn't quite believe that it was Yuyu standing in front of me, she looked a lot prettier than I remembered…

_Pretty?_

I shook my head like a dog trying to get all the water off its fur. That was the first time I'd ever thought of Yuyu like that, and I wasn't sure that was something I should be thinking right now. Yuyu being around did knock me back to my senses though. _I'm not alone here. I have the twins with me. We can survive._

_We can do this._

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, gently pushing Yuyu's hand away.

"I'm fine" I said, trying to muster up some of my usual harshness. "Just tired from running so much. Where's Toto?"

I felt kinda bad about lying to Yuyu. I had no idea if she knew that's what I was doing, I mean, I'd said Cocona's name after all, but she showed no signs of having noticed, and instead turned her head slightly so her eyes were facing one of the doors. I approached it and turned the handle, and indeed, there was Toto, sitting on the lower bunk, looking over his combat gear. _Has he been looking at that the whole time?_

He looked up at us as we entered, silent and staring. Yuyu approached him and held out her bad arm, the hand of which was curled into a fist, and dropped something into his hands. "Here" was all she said. I caught a tiny glint of silver, and a reel of thread. She must have stolen that from the embroidery class. Toto nodded at her, and got to work on mending his combat gear. He struggled with his sewing more than Yuyu did, a lot more, but his work was still neater than anything I could accomplish. It would probably be a few days before all of our stuff was fixed up, but at least we had a way to repair it. The sooner we had armour, the sooner we could make a proper attempt to get the rest of our stuff back, and get out of here.

_There was hope._

We couldn't really do too much more today… or I certainly couldn't at least. I was completely drained from today's adventure, and my emotions getting out of hand weren't helping either. As Toto was working on the bottom bunk of the bed, I clambered up the ladder to the top one, and flopped down on the mattress. My limbs felt like they were weighed down with lead and I felt a little like I was sinking.

It wasn't long before, what felt like, much needed sleep claimed me…

* * *

 

I sat up fast upon waking, feeling panicked, almost smacking my head against the ceiling of the bunk above me. _What's going on? How am I alive?_

_Are the others alive?_

Turning to my left I saw Toto slumped in a chair near a chest of drawer, still wearing his tattered combat gear. His chest rose and fell. _Good. He's breathing… But where's Yuyu?_ I got out of the bunkbed and clambered up the ladder to see her up there, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

_Okay, both alive. But… What the hell is Yuyu wearing?_ It looked like some sort of long frilly nightshirt… Looking down at myself, I saw I was wearing an identical one. I then noticed Yuyu's flesh-and-blood arm… I was about to ask her about it when something about the situation struck me as really familiar.

_Has this happened before?_ I swear this was the first time I'd ever been to this part of Pure Illusion, but something in the back of my mind was telling me that wasn't the case.

That same something made me get down from the bed as fast as I could and almost rip the drawers open on the dresser next to Toto, to reveal school uniforms and black ribbons.

"Put these on!" I told the twins. It was a while before they responded, but eventually they both obeyed, and we all stood in matching outfits. I was tying my hair up when the door opened and scribbled-on faces spoke.

"qRE3Tinqs" came their garbled voices. The twins echoed their welcome, and I grabbed Toto by the wrist, dragging him with me as we left through the door with them, leaving Yuyu behind. I wasn't quite sure why all my actions were so urgent, but I guess it's a good thing they were, as who knows what could have happened otherwise. We passed the stained glass windows with the lilies and ended up in a room where all the girls were doing embroidery. Toto and I sat at the only two free spaces on the table and got to work with needle and thread.

I felt like I should have been cursing my equipment to oblivion, but I wasn't having any problems with it at all… Well, my sewing was far from skilled, but I was enjoying it, which is something I never thought I'd find myself thinking…

Although the whole time we were there, there was buzzing in the room. No insects were in the room at all, just the schoolgirls who were… mostly watching the two of us. They were still doing embroidery, no problems, despite their gazes being focused on us, but the noise just slowly kept growing until it filled the room. I ended up dragging Toto out with me when it was starting to get too loud for me to think in there. When we were outside the classroom he looked at me questioningly, still holding his things. I looked down at his work to see a replica of the school, including an almost-invisible bell tower. Suddenly the memories came back to me, full force.

"This has happened before" I told him. "Yuyu did this exact same thing yesterday." _Hers was a lot neater though…_ I began to miss her a little, even though I'd seen her only an hour before.

Toto stared at me a while longer. If he was a normal person, he probably would have questioned me then, or gone on a rant saying how I was crazy and this was the first time this had ever happened… But he wasn't normal, and he nodded not long after I'd spoken, accepting my words without a doubt. I was used to the twins following my orders, but for some reason the fact Toto just went along with me was… I'm not quite sure, but it seemed like he _trusted_ me. I didn't know that's a thing they were capable of doing, trusting another person, but the more I looked into Toto's eyes the more I wondered just how much more to them there is.

We went back to Yuyu without speaking another word, I couldn't help smiling upon seeing her, even though all she was doing was sitting down in the chair Toto had previously occupied, staring at a wall.

"Hey" I said. Her head turned to face us quickly, as if she was startled by our sudden appearance, although her face was as expressive as an egg.

She stood up, a lot slower than she would have if a real person had been surprised by us coming back so soon, but she looked down at Toto's sewing stuff and held out her good hand, ready to take it from him. He handed it over, and Yuyu sat down in the chair, grabbed Toto's combat gear (which he had left sprawled over the mirror) and began to sew. As she got to work, it was then that I noticed there were a few black stitches in it already, even though the only things in the room were the furniture and the drawer of school uniforms…

It wasn't too long before Yuyu's unusually-bare left arm began to shake badly, trying to hold Toto's stuff in place while fixing it up. The corner of her mouth twitched in a grimace. _She's in pain._

"Why don't you put it down? Like, put it on dresser, use that as a table as you sew, that way you won't have to hold it up." I suggested. Yuyu looked away from the clothes and up at me, my heart skipping a beat as her eyes met mine, before she obeyed and got to work again. It seemed to be working a lot better for her, and a smile crept along my face. For some reason, watching her work made me feel happy.

_What the heck is up with me?_

I shook my head to clear it again and tried to get my thoughts together _. Right, if Toto's stuff had stayed fixed up from the previous day, we can work with this. Each day that repeats we can just grab things from the Home Ec. Room to fix our stuff and…_

_We only know where Toto's things are._

"We need to search the school" I said, turning to him. He nodded and we left the room. I thought I could feel Yuyu's eyes on me as the door shut behind us.

"Let's have a walk around, see what we can find" I said to Toto. I don't know if I needed to say all my plans out loud, but I felt better talking to someone, even if half of the time I got a silent nod as a response.

Corridors stretched out in front of us. Not really knowing where we were going, we just picked random directions and went off that way. I didn't want to split up. We might have covered more ground that way, but this school creeped me out enough when I was with someone, I didn't even want to _try_ walking around here on my own.

Whenever we passed students, most of them passed us without sparing a second glance… as long as we kept walking. If we stood still too long, all faces would end up facing Toto, and the constant noise of rain from outside would be drowned out with the unnatural buzzing.

_This didn't happen at all when it was me and Yuyu walking around…_ That was when as I was walking, I caught sight of the stained-glass window with the white lilies (probably not the same one near the room we were staying in, but they all looked identical) and another thought struck me.

_All-girls school? White lilies? How Yuyu's been acting towards me… and how I thought she was pretty…_

I don't know how I didn't pick up on all the yuri vibes the school was giving off until now, and how it had influenced our behaviour until now. It would also explain why none of the students seemed too happy when Toto was around or stood still for too long. Being a guy he was _incredibly_ out of place here. I guess at least it forced us to work faster though in looking around the school.

We didn't really find any hints of our gear, but as we went along, a couple of times Toto put his hand on my shoulder and said "stop. Previously explored," before he'd point us in another direction. I wasn't entirely sure how he knew, but he was probably mapping out the whole area in his head as he went along. _If the day started over again though, would he remember it all?_ I couldn't be sure, but having that thought inspired me to try and be more observant of my surroundings. Eventually I began to notice more and more subtle differences around the school. If Toto had somehow picked up on what I was doing and had stopped turning me around because of that, he never told me. I doubt anything I'd remember would stay in my head either, but we'd never know unless we tried.

I got a rough idea of the layout of the whole school by the evening... or what I guessed to be evening. As we explored, eventually we saw less and less girls in the corridors at what I'd guess were one-hour intervals, until there weren't any at all. I wasn't really sure if I prefered that to be the case, honestly. At least when there was more than just me and Toto in the corridor we could _see_ our enemy. When they were all gone, you could sometimes hear giggling along with the rain that constantly pattered the windows. Knowing they were still around, still _there_ was enough to keep me on edge the entire time.

Although the fact it was basically empty outside our room now was still terrifying to me, I thought now would probably be the best time to search for the rest of our missing equipment. I wasn't sure if the repairs to Toto's combat gear meant anything, but I had a theory that it meant that things we'd bought with us were unaffected by the day that seemed to repeat itself, then if we got our stuff back it should be left alone and we could stash it in our room and fix it as days the days went by. If not, then we'd know where it was for the next day, and assuming the repairs stayed like they did for Toto's stuff, then great. Okay, it wouldn't be as perfect as I'd like it, there was no telling how long it would take to repair everything, but we had a plan. If we put that into action, we could get out of here.

I told the twins this and Yuyu looked confused while Toto nodded. She cocked her head to the side, questioningly, looking at Toto. All he did was nod. Yuyu turned back to me with a little nod of her own.

That night, the three of us left as a team, Yuyu tagging along with me and Toto. I noticed she stayed closer to my side than Toto's, which made me a tad nervous. I know it was just the influence the place was having on her, and the fact my face felt a bit flushed because of that, but still. I couldn't help wishing it was Cocona running alongside me rather than Yuyu at that moment.

Although Toto and I had explored quite a lot of the school, we didn't really know where to start searching. The only place that came to mind was the embroidery room I've been in twice now, but that was only because it was the only room, I could remember beyond the room we were currently using as a base.

We had a look around, warily, keeping an eye out for potential enemies. I nearly leapt out of my skin about five times, pretty much whenever I heard a stray giggle or I thought I saw something move in the darkness. I never really thought about the colour of all our combat gear before, but now I wished that it was any colour that wasn't black, it would be so much easier to find, or at least it would stand out... I guess that's the point though, if you don't want your prisoners escaping, you take their stuff.

We left that room and eventually stumbled upon another, which I vaguely remembered, the room where the girls were playing the piano. We spent quite a while in there too, but it was at this point I felt like we were being watched. I kept twisting around, trying to look back over my shoulders, only to find nothing there. One giggle sounded so close to my ear, that I spun around and threw a punch. Toto's hand caught my fist, which wasn't too far from his face. His expression didn't change, so I didn't know if he was annoyed or not, but I apologised regardless.

I don't know if the twins felt like we were being watched now, they acted like they usually do, so it was hard to tell. We ended up looking around a number of rooms before the first bell tolled.

"The bell..." _Would this be like the day we arrived? Should we head back now?_ I had no idea what to do, and I turned to the twins. I don't know why I expected them to have an answer, they both just stared at me, probably wondering why I'd stopped. _Crap, what the hell do we do?_

For some reason, my first thought was to run, so that's what I did. The sound of the bell echoed down each corridor, the noise getting so loud it almost threatened to bowl us over. A horde of giggles soon accompanied it, and I had to stop running. The sheer noise made my ears ring, and I could feel the vibrations in my bones. My skull felt like it was going to explode.

"There." How the hell I managed to catch Yuyu's voice amongst the cacophony I'll never find out, I caught a glimpse of a shining metal sign above a door, with a white lily painted on it, before the sound of buzzing joined the overwhelming force of volume. I remembered seeing flickering legs and shifting-scribble faces before, once again, things went dark.

I quickly sat up, gasping for air, on a bed I don't remember falling asleep in. Thunder crashed outside the window and it took me a while to realise where I was. _Pure Illusion._

Turning to my left I saw Toto slumped over in a chair wearing his combat gear, which looked in better condition than I would have thought considering how badly the acid rain seemed to eat away at it… _Wait, were those stitches?_ I got up and walked over to him to get a closer look. _Yeah… they were. How the heck did they get there?_

_Wait…_

I scrambled over to the bunk bed I'd woken up in and looked at the top bunk to see Yuyu exactly where I expected, her left arm exposed.

_This has happened before. Twice._

_This is day three._

I woke the twins up, told them to put on their uniforms, and dragged Yuyu out with me (taking her by her good arm) when the schoolgirls came to fetch us for out lessons…

Our first stop was the embroidery room where we got a needle and thread, and took it to Toto in between the classroom change, and he got to work repairing his stuff.

_Toto… corridors… walking… We were looking for something…_

As we were walking along, I was a bit startled to find myself being jerked backwards after something grabbed my arm. I was about to yell at them when I saw it was just Yuyu. _Man, she has a good grip._ I didn't really understand why she'd grabbed me, until I walked next to her and caught sight of what she was looking at… a music room with two of the creepy schoolgirls sitting at a piano. _This place… I've been here before… And so, has Yuyu. Does she remember?_

She looked longingly into the room, before turning to me and saying a word I've never heard from her before:

"Please"

It was quiet, but I heard it clear as day. I wasn't quite sure why she was so eager to have a look, but I shrugged and allowed myself to be dragged into the room.

We sat down and listened to the music, my mind starting to drift off, lost in the gentle melody. _Does Yuyu like music?_ Sometimes it hits me just how little I actually know about the twins I've been going on adventures with for the past few years. I think I've seen more of them in the past few _days_ than anyone else had in their entire existence…

As the piano music played, something happened that I was pretty sure didn't happen the first time we came here. A couple of the girls had gotten up from their seats and approached. Instantly alert, I whipped my head around to see shadowed eyes looking at me. Heavy-looking arms slowly reached up to my head and, standing up, I lashed out at them, smacking one of them in the forearm.

_Crapping hell!_ The cold wasn't quite a shock to me, but the fact my arm went _clean through_ my target, and the fact it reformed after like nothing had happened was. It was like I'd just swiped my arm through ice cream that could reform.

I had no idea what I was thinking. Buzzing was starting to drown out my own thoughts, echoing throughout the room. The music that had been playing moments before sounded like… a distant dream, which was being drowned out by the nightmare that flooded my world. Tattered black curtains of hair started to drift near my own blonde hair, and the high-pitched giggles began to fill my ears, somehow mixing with the warning buzzing. Scribbles began to appear on the smooth faces in front of me, and I was expecting one twisted mouth to open in a star of tentacles and dripping fangs…

Honestly, I think the worst part of it was that Yuyu had stood up, bringing attention to just how many 'eyes' were on me. I was being stared at from all directions, the other students in the room had begun slowly rising from their seats, looking a bit like they were trying to rise from a tar pit.I'm not sure why they were so slow to act, maybe they could only move faster when they could hear the bell, but part of me just wished if they were gonna kill me that they'd hurry up and get it over with. Each second this dragged on was another second I was frozen in terror.

Yuyu put a hand on my head at that point and slowly pushed me down, back into my seat. _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! FIGHT THEM! THEY WERE TRYING TO KILL ME!_ I wanted to scream at her, but my mouth wouldn't work. Hell, remembering to breathe was enough trouble for me at the moment, speech was impossible. I was no longer certain that was out of fear though.

Yuyu's face had my full attention now. Her red eyes shone like rubies in sunlight, her hair like a fresh snowfall. She looked like a doll, carefully made by a master craftsman.

For the second time since we'd been here Yuyu saved me, this time it was just her presence. It turned out all the schoolgirls wanted to do was to fix my hairstyle. Apparently tying your bangs up to the top of your head wasn't a good look in this school, and I ended up with two braids either side of my head.

"Looks good" Yuyu said, the edge of her mouth twitched into a small smile.

I grinned like an idiot at the compliment.

Thankfully that was as eventful it got during the time Yuyu and I went around the classrooms. I got a chance to have a look in the library this time too, although I found nothing of interest in the books, I couldn't help but think how Cocona would love to come here, just to have a look at the collection of books, maybe add some new stories to her collection. I felt a pang of sadness at that thought. Yuyu had picked up one about classical music and playing the piano, reading slowly, as if wanting to absorb every word in the book.

By the time it was the end of 'school' I decided to have a little walk around with Yuyu. I said how the days were looped her. I didn't know it she remembered that or not, so I went over it with her… _am I gonna have to do this every day we're here?_ And while I was explaining I also tried to jog my memory. Toto and I had walked quite a bit yesterday, mostly because staying still too long he raised suspicion everywhere we went, but there was a second reason behind it, and as I noticed one of the details in one of the stained-glass windows, I remembered what it was. _We were trying to learn our way around…_

At that point I recognised more and more places as we walked. I said all this out loud to Yuyu, who was tagging along behind me, listening to every word I said.

I know I ended up doing most of the talking when we went on adventures and stuff, I mean, I was the one giving orders half the time after all, but this felt different to me. No commands were being given this time, we were just… well, _I_ , was just talking. Toto and Yuyu probably haven't really had that happen too much, or not beyond the few stray sentences at Asclepius… I had Cocona in that time to hang out with and share stories with… And what did the twins have?

_Me._

They were allowed to go around outside on their own, although they normally stayed pretty close, and I always thought that's because that's what they were told to do, but seeing them lately… They're definitely not the mindless drones I thought they were. The signs were small, but they were _there_ , and now I saw them, they were all I could see.

At some point during my rambling and walking Yuyu had taken my hand. I was kinda surprised by the action, the twins don't really… act out, for want of better words, or not often at least. It was probably just the influence of the place that made her do it, but I didn't pull away from her. If anything, I held her hand a little tighter than she did mine.

_I was all they really had beyond Asclepius and Pure Illusion…_

_And all I had was Cocona…_

That thought made me stop walking as another pang of sadness hit me.

"We should get back to Toto and find our stuff" I said to Yuyu. We'd probably been walking a lot longer than we needed to, I just got caught up in the moment. Even though thinking about Cocona bought my mood down, it reminded me that we didn't belong here and we needed to get back to the real world.

It was pretty easy to get back to our room, especially now I knew most of where I was going (my brain was still fuzzy on the map in places, but it was better than nothing), and we saw Toto, standing there, wearing his combat gear.

"Fixed" was all he said. His red gaze then wandered down to mine and Yuyu's joined hands. Suddenly embarrassed I jerked my arm away from hers.

"Cool. Now we need to get the rest of our stuff. Toto, do you remember anything about yesterday?" I asked.

"Exploring" was the only answer I got. Not as informative as I'd like, but heck, it was something. I'd guess more than Yuyu remembered of yesterday at least, considering she struggled the first time around I asked her.

We left the room a little later, I told Toto to put the school uniform back on, over his combat stuff. Now I thought about it, it was probably fortunate that he was the one who kept their armour, the students were most suspicious of him after all, if they decided to attack, he had some form of defense…

…however if that attracted attention to Yuyu and I being outsiders in this world too, then we'd be in trouble. I don't know if the students were a lot more hostile than they let on and they only put us back in our room at the end of the eleventh chime because that's what's meant to happen then, but I didn't want to find out. My imagination played enough tricks on me earlier. If teeth-ridden tentacled mouths were what they had in real life, rather than being a thing unique to my imagination, I'd rather not find out.

Running as a team of three, I found myself recalling more than I had earlier when it was just me and Yuyu. Toto stopped a couple of times to look around, I don't know if it was because being back in the school made him recognise some of the paths we were taking, or whether he was keeping an eye out for enemies. I didn't really think about doing that, despite the occasional giggle that reached my ears, I was pretty certain we were safe until we heard the bell.

Man, I wish there was a good way to keep track of time in here, even though there were lessons like at a school, there was no indication how long they lasted. An hour? Two? Five? How long was a day here? The only time the clock ever went was when it was near the 'end of the day'. _We need to find a way to the clock tower too, it has to be important. There has to be something there…_

"Here" Toto's voice was strangely clear when he said the word. Yuyu and I had stopped running and found him standing outside one of the rooms. There wasn't a sign outside to hint at anything, but the door had a mark on it, probably kanji. I didn't know what one it was, I didn't know if I'd recognise it if I saw it again, I was a bit too mesmerised by how… vividly red it was. Apart from the three of us and the odd light source, this was the brightest colour I've seen in this entire world.

And it was the colour of blood.

Something waved in front of my face, and I shook my head to clear it, finally able to tear my eyes away from the marking on the door. It took me a second to work out what it was: _my stuff!_ My body armour had a fair few holes in it, almost resembling a large slice of moldy black swiss cheese than human clothing, and my weapons belt was frayed pretty badly in places, but I didn't care. This was a victory. I turned to the twins to see Toto had put his visor on over his eye and had just clipped his rocket pack on, and Yuyu was holding her armour in one hand, with her metal fist still in the room sitting against the wall, she stared at it.

I was about to ask her if she needed help getting it on, but my mouth opened and the corridor vibrated as the bell rang for the first time. _The entrance to the tower must be close…_ No time to think about that now though.

"Run! We have our stuff, just run!" I yelled at the twins. Toto and I grabbed one end of Yuyu's robotic arm each and we all took off. I don't know if the schoolgirls were protecting the tower, but it wasn't long before they were chasing us through the school. Doors kept bursting open and girls with heavy clothes and flickering legs were there. A couple of twig-like arms thrust out from holes that'd been punched though the stained-glass windows, all in an attempt to grab and stop us. Once or twice we were grabbed, but we managed to get away and make it back to our room. I could still feel the presence of where fingers had managed to touch my skin, rather than being cold, it was like the warmth had just been completely sapped from the area.

I panted for breath once we were safely inside; the twins looked pretty worn out too… but we did it. I'd started laughing before I knew it, maybe I was relieved we'd made it out alive, maybe I'd finally lost my mind. I don't know. We had our stuff, and we were alive.

The eleventh hour struck, and with it, everything went black.

My eyes opened. _Bunk bed._ I looked around. _Toto in chair. Still wearing his stuff._ I got up and looked at the top bunk of the bed. _Yuyu awake._ I got down and looked around the room.

A couple of piles of clothing were folded neatly on the dresser next to Toto, along with a trio of coiled belts, and a large over-sized metal arm that sat in the corner of the room.

A grin crept along my face. _We did it._ My theory was right: stuff originally from our world wasn't affected by the time loop. Apparently, neither was my mind any more, I remembered everything now.

I woke up Toto and Yuyu and told them to get ready for the day, in addition to catching them up on things that have happened previous days, as they were still partly affected by the time loop. The schoolgirls entered the room to fetch us before we could help yuyu with her robotic arm, so I ended up taking Toto to classes with me today. The insect buzzing that came form the girls didn't stop once the whole day. We went to the embroidery room and grabbed a needle and thread for Yuyu to fix our combat gear (Toto wore his under the school uniform).

Much like the time I spent before with Toto, we ended up wandering around the school rather than going in the classrooms and participating. I wanted to try and work out where the entrance to the clock tower was, but we couldn't find it no matter how much we wandered…

We went back, Yuyu had fixed up some of our stuff (she was a _lot_ faster than Toto at sewing), in theory it shouldn't be long now…

And then _they_ arrived…

I don't know how long we'd actually been in the school, maybe a couple of weeks now? We've tried many days over to find the way into the clock tower, but no matter what, I could never find the corridor with the red kanji on the doors again, no matter how hard we tried.

One 'evening' (well, classes were over for that day at least) I thought I'd wander around on my own. I knew nothing of mechanics, Toto and Yuyu's fixing of the hoverboat in the desert was anything to go by, they'd be fine fixing up the weapons and the faulty Hole device themselves. I was wearing my body armour under my school uniform as I explored on my own, something I wouldn't have been able to do without it. I'd grown kinda used to the semi-constant sound of rain, interspersed with giggling and didn't really think twice of it now. I still felt pretty jumpy in this place though, a newer thing that's been happening is hearing a heavy slam, and suddenly there's a handprint or a few on the wall. They looked a bit like they'd been burned into the wall permanently, the colour of ash… but if you walked past there, even 5 minutes later, they'd be gone completely…

For some reason something in me said to go to the locker room. I don't really know why, I'd been there twice before, and beyond small metal locked doors all I found was one pair of _really_ old shoes, which I placed on top of some of the lockers.

Lightning illuminated the area as I got close, casting long, creeping shadows along the tiled ground. Two people were there, one lying on the floor, like the stupid pink-haired idiot she is, along with her yellow robot companion, and the other… I could only see her from behind, but my heart leapt seeing that blue hair. It'd been so long since I saw her last, I'd almost given up hope all together.

Cocona must have felt my presence though, she turned to look over her shoulder and I gasped when I saw her. I mean I could see her, but I still couldn't quite believe it. _She was really here._ Her eyes were completely shadowed, so I couldn't see that wonderful shade of brown I had now started to think was my imagination and could only be seen in the tea in this place, but I didn't care. _Cocona's here!_

I couldn't help but smile as I welcomed her.

"Greetings"

Papika and Cocona looked extremely confused to see me there. I wasn't really sure why at first, they seemed so shocked, but I guess the only other humans I've been in contact with the past two weeks or so have been the barely-expressive twins, and I was probably so used to that now, that everything else seemed really exaggerated to me now.

"Yayaka?" _man, it was good to hear Cocona's voice again..._ "Why are you dressed like that?"

The question threw me off, and I suddenly became aware of how the uniform I'd been putting on and wearing every day without much of a second thought, was very different to what I'd normally wear if given the chance back in the real world. Face flushed, and feeling flustered and nervous all of a sudden, it was a while before I could work up a response, in which I snorted and turned my back on them before dissapearing into the darkness. Papika yelled out my name and I heard Cocona hurriedly tell her off. Not long after that, they both left.

As much as I wanted to talk to Cocona, I didn't follow them. Heck, I don't think I could have gotten a word out, even if I really wanted to, my heart was pounding like crazy and the only coherant thought that my mind could conjure was _Cocona's here._ Her presence alone seemed to send my mind into overdrive, and when she said my name... It just sounded so... _good._ If Papika wasn't there, I probably would have ran up to Cocona and hugged her as tightly as I could, and never let her go.

_...Is this how Yuyu feels around me at the moment?_ It was pretty hard to know what the twins were thinking at the best of times, but I looked down at my hand and remembered when Yuyu had taken it. It felt... small. Hesitant. A slightly weak grip, maybe because she was shy...

I smacked my hand to my head, trying to clear it. What the hell am I doing? I need to tell the twins that _they're_ here!

All those times I'd spent building up my mental map of the school with Toto really paid off. Before, I probably would have ran into some of the more hostile students who buzzed as I passed and tried to grab me, and I would have been constantly on the lookout, to the point of my head moved around so much I was dizzy by the time I made it back, and now, I could sneak around, virtually undetected and make it back to the room in what felt like seconds.

When I opened the door Toto was kneeling next to Yuyu, carefully looking over the joints on the metal arm, which was now in it's rightful place, attached to Yuyu. Her eyes went straight to mine, and I thought I saw a small spark of happiness in them upon seeing me. Toto must have sensed a change in Yuyu, looking at me as I entered the room.

"Any luck?" I asked them.

"Partial" Toto replied, and as if on cue the fingers on Yuyu's giant gauntlet twitched. "Repairs are problematic."

"I bet they are..." I wanted to ask about how everything else was coming along, my eyes caught sight of the rest of our equipment but before I could even think to form those words, the information that Cocona and Papika were here just sorta spilled from my mouth.

Toto's only reaction was a nod, before he went back to investigating Yuyu's arm, the fingers of which were now curled into a fist.

If those two were here, that means an amorphous was probably here too. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing we ended up here on accident of all places, but still.

_Those two are here. And they could get it first._

* * *

_Authours note: This is end of part 1 of the main story of chapter 5. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it now in case: although I'm using the anime of Flip Flappers as base for all the chapters I'm writing, you might notice a few... differences in places. Just a few though. It will still mostly follow the events of the show, but I have an idea or a few that might be different from what we've seen in the anime... although whether they make it into the story or not is another thing. But still. Part 2 next week!_


	7. Episode 5 - Main Adventure - part 2

The next few days I ended up trailing Papika and Cocona. Toto and Yuyu were making more progress with our things every day, they didn't really need me there, so I figured I'd try and work out what the enemy was doing... Or that's what I was telling myself at least. _This isn't an excuse to get closer to Cocona, if those two are here, there has to be an amorphous here too, and they're bound to find it before us at this rate. Besides, they might not know about the time loop. I should warn Cocona at least, I can't leave her trapped here forever._

I almost got caught by the schoolgirls a few times, I don't know if it's because I was on my own now, or if they thought I knew too much, all I know is although I was sneaking around, there were an awful lot more patrols of students than I remember there being before. Whether it was because of me, or because there were more outsiders in their school than they'd like, I don't know, but if they were starting to become hostile to us, how long would it be before they attack properly? How long was it before they'd go after Papika and Cocona too?

I think it was the third day after they arrived that I finally worked out what room they were staying in, I snuck in there at night. None of the rooms in here had locks on the doors (Not something I really thought about before, a part of me was thankful because it was easy to get into their room, but then it occurred to me that if the schoolgirls had finally decided they'd had enough of these visitors it would be easy for them to sneak attack us in the night...) so getting to Cocona was easy. I woke her up, and covered her mouth before she could get out more than the first syllable of my name.

"Keep it down" I whispered. I _really_ didn't want to alert any of the patrols of students that could be out there now. I'd already tried hitting one before, and my arm went straight through it. I don't know what damage they could do to us exactly, but if we couldn't hurt them, I didn't want to risk getting caught. We walked past the pink-paired idiot, who was sprawled on the floor, talking in her sleep about something tasting sweet. Although I found her annoying most of the time, for some reason that sentence made a tiny grin appear on my face. That was probably just the influence the place had on all the girls here.

I took Cocona to the place in the school I thought was the least commonly occupied: a corridor with glass windows either side, wooden floors, and electric lights hanging from the ceiling. I thought at first the only electric lights were the ones in the bedrooms, but there were a few corridors which had them too. The schoolgirls didn't really like to wander through these ones too often, so I figured it was probably one of the safer places to have this conversation.

"Are you alone?" Cocona wasted no time, the words were out of her mouth the instand I stopped walking. After listening to nothing but mostly monotone words, piano notes, pages turning in dusty books, insect-like buzzing and the constant rain, Cocona's voice was heavenly, even if she was trying to demand information from me. It felt like I sailor lost at sea for days upon end, and Cocona's voice was the birdsong that told me land was nearby.

There was hope.

She always filled me with hope.

"Where are the other two?" She asked. _That's good. Be aware of your surroundings. Assume this is a trap. It isn't, but stay in that mindset, Cocona._

"What, trying to probe us?" I asked, looking over my shoulder with a playful smile on my face. Yellow light from above caught some of the blue strands of her hair. Have I ever told you how nice it was to see such a bold colour after being trapped in this grey-hell for so long?

Cocona sort of shrunk down at my words, like a turtle trying to retreat into the safety of its shell, shy eyes looking at the ground. "I'm just worried," she said.

_She's worried? About me? And the twins too?_ I've never known someone like Cocona. In all the time she's met the twins, there was almost always conflict involved, and here was Cocona, the kind, naive soul, who was concerned for people who wouldn't think twice about attacking her if I didn't give them the command not to.

"You're as soft as ever" I said, facing away from her now. The smile I had on my face melted. I didn't really want to do what I ended up doing next, but if Cocona and Papika remain this clueless about the place, they'd probably end up caught in this world's loop forever... at least if they weren't killed in the meantime.

I charged Cocona then, and knocked her to the ground. _She needs to be scared. Fear will keep her alive in this place._ "Don't you realise the situation we're in here? This world is looping." My voice was harsh, urgent. She needed to keep this information in her head no matter what.

She blinked, and swallowed, it looked like she was trying to talk. I watched her face with a little smirk as she tried to act. In all the time I've known her, I don't think I've ever seen her flustered. It was kind of adorable. I didn't know when I'd get the chance like this again, so I teased her about it.

"Stupid. What are you getting so hot and bothered for?"

"I'm not—" She denied, but I cut her off. As much as I wanted to mess around, there was no telling how much time I'd have with her here to warn her.

"This is Pure Illusion's doing. Once you enter a Pure Illusion world, you're influenced by its nature. It's happened before, right?"

"So, this world gets you hot and bothered? And it loops? Really?"

I was terrified for a second that I'd have to actually answer that first question, being near her had sent my heartrate skyrocketing, but thankfully Cocona moved on from that subject pretty fast.

"…And you're unaffected?"

I have no idea how I managed to keep my voice from betraying my real thoughts and managed to say "My mindset is totally unlike yours" without the slightest pause or hint that I was trying not to mentally explode right now, talking to this girl who I definitely didn't have crush on in any way or form, because of this world or otherwise. _Calm down._ Trying to hide whatever I was feeling now behind anger, there was something I'd been meaning to ask Cocona for a while.

"Why are flakes like you two doing this?" There was a pause. My false anger becoming real, I tried to push again for an answer "Why are you collecting them, Cocona? I mean the amorphous"

Rain tapping the windows filled the silence between us until I finally got an answer.

"She says she can't come here without me."

_Papika._

"Why should that matter to you?" _She's not the one who's been forced into working for an evil organisation, she's not the one who'd have to worry about coming home with nothing._

"…And it's somewhat fun at times…" she continued. _What? And you wouldn't have fun with me? Are you really aware how dangerous this place can be?_

"Fun?" I echoed, with a sneer. _I've been here for two weeks Cocona. You've seen the students too, right? Have you felt the blood freeze in your veins where one has touched your arm? Have you had a horde of them hunt you down at night?_

I don't know if my mind was playing tricks on me, thinking about all the things that have happened in all the time I've been here, but I swear something in the air just changed then. I put my face close to hers and whispered.

"Play along." I thought I saw something move in the darkness behind her, I looked over her shoulder. From the corner of my eye I could see she was getting scared… and rightfully so. My eyes trailed along where I spotted the sign of movement and I saw a thousand scribbled faces staring at the two of us from windows above.

"Pure Illusion ain't a place you can come to for fun and games." _Or at least, not all the worlds you've been ending up in._

The first bell of the night tolled at that point. _Crap. No more time._

"Go back before the bell finishes ringing." I said as I walked past her, back to my room. I didn't really want to leave her there, not alone, but I've been here long enough to attract danger to me like a magnet, and I had no intention of getting eiher of us caught.

"Yayaka!" Cocona called my name, but I had to keep walking.

"You're afraid of failure, aren't you?"

The next few days I didn't really keep an eye on the two Flip Flappers and instead just wandered the school on my own. Toto had repaired his rocket pack and both our visors, but Yuyu's metal arm was still proving difficult to fix completely (the rocket belts hadn't even been attempted yet). I lent her my visor so she could try and help out, although I don't know if it would do much good, I had no idea if it could be linked up to her arm to help diagnose anything. Although the fingers on the arm worked perfectly, it was still impossible to lift or bend the elbow joint. I wondered if that bothered Yuyu at all, that her gauntlet was almost as bad as her real arm at the moment, but thinking back, I remember a few days ago when I'd wandered off on my own coming back and catching Yuyu's voice through the door 'Defective. Useless.' She sounded pretty dejected...

At some point I ended up in the library on my own and started flipping through the pages of a dusty book I couldn't care less about. Was there anything else I could do? Not really. Cocona had enough to deal with at the moment without me bringing any more of the enemy's attention to her, mechanics weren't my thing, so all I could do was sit around and wait for something to happen.

It bugged me.

Sighing, I got up and put the book back on the shelf and took out another one, a puff of dust floating from the shelves as I did so. I put the book down, which landed on the table with a light thump, and began to aimlessly go through more boring pages, maybe pausing to admire an illustration every now and then. I admit I was never much of a reader.

I kept thinking about Yuyu and Cocona when I looked through the books. The scratchy-lined sketches made me think of Yuyu's embroidery, and I thought Cocona would have liked to see some of the fantastical worlds and buildings in the pages. _And now she could see all of those things herself... And she didn't need me to show her..._

I was tempted to slam my head into the desk at that point. _She has Papika now, and they're on the opposite side. There's no way this can end well. Either Asclepius win, we get all the amorphous and take over the world, crush Flip Flap and Cocona probably gets killed, or Flip Flap win and..._ _What_ would _happen if Flip Flap won?_ The thought made me pause for a moment. The rest of the world would probably go on, just like normal. Cocona and the pink-haired idiot will live happily ever after, they grow up and get to live their lives... No, that wouldn't happen... _If Flip Flap won, Asclepius will raid their base and get the amorphous themselves. We have an army after all, it won't be too hard once we find out where they're hiding..._ but if for some reason Asclepius gave up, and the happy ending for those two happened, then what would become of me, Toto and Yuyu? _We wouldn't be needed. Toto and Yuyu could end up destroyed, and I'll just be another experiment for Asclepius to work on…_

I don't know what would have happened to me if I was just left at the orphanage all that time. Maybe Asclepius would still be hell-bent on taking over the world, maybe not… My life would be so different, I couldn't even imagine it. No twins, no Pure Illusion… Possibly even no Cocona…

Slamming the book shut, I put it back on the shelf and left the room, leaving behind the slowly growing buzzing noise. Putting my hands over my ears did nothing to cut the noise out, even the rain. No matter where you walked, there was constant sound, and it refused to be ignored.

_I need to get out of here._

I ended up at one of the doors that lead outside and looked through the windows, to the staring, red face of the clock tower. It was still pretty faded, hidden behind sheets of acid rain and mist, but it stood. Alone. Watching. I thought back to the tower at Asclepius with its pulsing red glow… And the red eyes of the twins.

_No matter where I go, I'm constantly being watched._

_There's no escape._

The rain sounded louder, tapping against the doors. Well, I _was_ sitting next to them, but… it felt like I was being called. Something in me wanted to rush out to the clock tower…

No. That wouldn't do any good right now.

Getting frustrated with myself, I ended up going back to the Twins in their room.

There was no 'welcome back' or anything as I stepped through those doors and lied down on the top bunk of the bed. Just rain, and the odd sound of a needle scraping metal. All the sewing was done now, but I still made sure to fetch a needle from the embroidery room as it seemed to still be useful. I don't know if we would have been chased taking anything else from any of the other rooms (or at least things that didn't originally belong to us/come from our world), but I didn't want to risk it.

I didn't really do anything for the rest of that day, not until the bell chimed again at least. That was when I sat up from the bed and saw Toto standing, rather than crouching, near Yuyu's arm. I thought for a second that he was just getting ready to slump in his chair for the night, until Yuyu turned and I saw a purple stripe glowing on the metal armour plate that went across her chest. The movement seemed a little slow, but that great heavy lump of an arm was moving, a small whirr coming from the joints as it did so.

Yuyu looked at her arm, while her mouth was still, her eyes seemed to be a bit livelier than they had been than when I left them earlier today. The sight made me smile. The gauntlet must have something in it to help stabilise Yuyu's real arm, she didn't seem to be in pain using it.

Either way, it was a victory, and one that I would gladly accept with how the rest of the day has gone.

_One step closer to getting out of here…_

Wake up. Uniform. 'qrE3Tinqs'. Embroidery. Needle. Repairs. Explore. Food. Cream bread. Explore. Corridor. Corridor…

Kanji corridor!

I've found it!

The day after that was finally the day Toto and Yuyu managed to fix the rocket belts. We didn't actually fire to test them, but Toto's visor said they were finally up and running, and that was good enough for me. Yuyu handed my headgear back to me with her robotic arm. She seemed to have lightened up quite a bit after her arm was fixed, even though her face barely showed any emotion.

Later that night was when we made our move.

All of us dressed in combat gear, (my braids gone now and bangs tied back up on top of my head) we set off for the clock tower. _The amorphous has to be there._ It was lucky I found the corridor with all the kanji on the doors yesterday, it was still pretty fresh in my memory (or at least the time loop seemed to be affecting me less each time) either way, we got there easy and Toto found the way through a secret passage.

The corridor we stepped into was a distorted swirl, that otherwise resembled any other hall in the school, but the fact this was the same, and yet so different, was a sign we were on the right track. I could feel a slight breeze in here too. Unnatural it may have been (compared to the rest of the place) it was the first time I'd felt wind on my face in I-don't-even-know-how-long any more and it was… just really, really nice.

I took a deep breath before I gave the command for everyone to split up and look around. Toto and Yuyu went off as a team, and I explored on my own.

There didn't seem to be any students in this part of the school, but I still felt unease being here. Along the distorted walls of the hall shadowy handprints appeared, shortly followed by giggles. I kept a hand on my rocket belt, and my other arm, blades out, ready to fight if need be.

I was running for a while when I heard a couple of beeps from my head gear. I didn't check the visor, but I knew it was Toto saying he'd found something. He'd be able to track where I was with his visor too, so I didn't move, in case we ended up running in circles looking for each other.

I was about to check over my gear, make sure everything was all right when I heard the sweetest sound in the world.

"Yayaka!"

I turned to see Cocona and Papika running towards me.

"You two…" I was pretty surprised to see them here, I guess they found the secret passageway at some point too. Or maybe they followed us here, I don't know. Toto and Yuyu appeared from the corridor just behind me a few seconds later.

"Yayaka" "No time"

They were right, of course. I don't even know why I stood around and hesitated, we needed to get moving, there was finally a way out of this place, and as much as I wish I could talk to Cocona, we couldn't afford to waste time.

I shot a glare at the two before I turned my back on them and we ran for the clock tower. There were more footsteps than I was used to echoing behind those of mine and the twins.

"Don't follow us!" I yelled over my shoulder.

"Which means we should!" the pink-haired idiot called back to me. _Magic powers or not, we could end up facing an army in this place, they're gonna get killed..._

A large set of grimy double doors at the end of the hall we were running through creaked open as we approached. _Welcoming is into a trap, probably._ As we stepped through I spared a quick glance upward.

Eiree red light spilled over huge steel gears, constant clacking and ticking as each piece spun, and a spiral staircase wrapped around them all like a coiled snake. Part of me was worried that the whole tower would constrict somehow, and the stairs and gears would just get closer and closer until all of us were crushed... in which case it wouldn't just be the red light that fell on the gears...

_Keep moving! You're almost out of here!_

"Ha! We caught up!"

I glanced over at the spiral stairs opposite us, and sure enough, there were Cocona and Papika chasing after us.

"You're so naive. This is where it gets real" I called back down to them. As if on cue, all of a sudden, the steps under us arched and began to ripple like waves at the sea. I shot out a grappling wire from my belt, aiming for one of the gears. I was a little worried at first that it would fail halfway through, but I shouldn't have doubted the twins engineering skills, it worked perfectly, and I got myself to safety pretty fast.

Cocona and Papika were wobbling around on the shifting stairs, trying desperately to keep their balance. Papika shouted at me to wait up as I was getting away. I didn't think she was going to do anything beyond that, so I was pretty surprised when I felt a heavy weight attach itself to my leg, almost throwing myr off balance, tearing the grappling hook free from where it landed. Looking down I saw a messy splash of pink hair.

"Hey! Let go!" _Cocona, how the hell do you put up with her?_ I shifted around, trying to loosen Papika's grip, before finally landing a hard kick to her stomach. That must have pissed her off, those puppy-dog eyes looked up at me, with burning blue anger and she yelled out.

"Flip... FLAPPING!"

At first, I thought it was something she said when she cursed, but as it turned out, the bracelet on her wrist began to glow, until Papika was bathed in clue light. A couple of seconds later, cyan haired and pink eyed, magical girl Papika, stood staring up at me, having landed on a large pipe.

"Just try and keep up!" I taunted. Why I called out a challenge, when I just wanted her to leave me, and Cocona, alone, I don't know. Maybe it was the influence of this place, and the fact she made me mad, some part of me saw this as a competition to win over Cocona. Either way, I was out of there. I fired another grappling hook straight up, and Papika leapt after me an instant later.

Cocona called out Papika's name in worry from somewhere down below. If I wasn't already in motion the sound of her voice would have stopped me in her tracks. I wish it was my name rather than the cyan-haired idiot's she called out like that, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Papika was letting loose a barrage of punches. She missed with most of them, but her aim seemed to be getting better the longer we were fighting. A fist brushed past my face, and I just about dodged a kick she tried to sneak attack me with. I hadn't made any further progress upwards, busy avoiding every attack I could, and trying to slash outwards with my arm-blades in return.

"No time to play around!" _You try fighting her!_ She caught my ear that time with a punch, and I ducked trying to swipe upwards and uppercut her. No success. _Frag!_ I was getting tired fast; I wasn't sure I could fight for too much longer at the rate I was going. _Please tell me the speed booster's been fixed…_

I managed to click the button on my headgear a second before she would have broken my nose, and I ended up 5 feet away in my attempt to dodge. _Yes!_

Dashing around has never felt so damn good. There wasn't really wind in my hair, what with being enclosed in a huge stone tower, but rushing around like this… It was sheer joy. My hair billowing out behind me, each simple hop enough to propel me a short distance away… I don't know if this is how ballet dancers felt when they leapt gracefully in their performances, but if it was and if Asclepius didn't screw the world up too badly, I might have to think about taking up a class or a few… As long as I didn't have to wear a tutu at least, no way in hell I'd be caught wearing one of those.

Papika had no idea where to look, I was moving too fast for her to keep up, so it was easy to shoulder bash her and send her flying into the nearest wall, landing sprawled in a new pile of brick and rubble.

Cocona called out her name again, and I think she got a reply from Papika, but I didn't pay attention to that. I was looking up trying to work out where exactly the amorphous was. Toto and Yuyu may well have worked it out by now, and were on their way to collect it, but I couldn't see them up there either.

Staying still for so long was a dumb idea.

Cold, squishy fingers wrapped around my ankle, one by one. I barely had time to register what had happened when I was yanked down by the two long red arms. A scream worked itself free from my throat as I spotted a writhing red mass below me. Vague shapes like skulls and skeletal limbs slowly tried to stretch out from the blob, all of them looking like they were begging to get the first bite of human flesh.

"Yayaka!" Finally, Cocona had called out my name, but I was too scared to appreciate the sound of her voice. Terror was welling up in me as the hands finally bought me down to the twisting form below. My vision was a tunnel of black and red. Tentacle-like arms wrapped around me, tight, trying to pull me in. _There is no way in_ hell _I am going to die here._

I tried to struggle against the gelatinous limbs that held me in place, but it wasn't doing much good. Another scream, much like the one I let out earlier, filled the air and got louder as it fell towards me. It wasn't long before Cocona ended up in the same situation as me, untransformed. _She must have fallen from one of the clock's mechanisms…_

"What is this?!" she cried, as the hands began to circle her too. _If I knew I'd tell you._ Growling I tried to wrench myself free again. That was when I spotted Toto and Yuyu up on the floating stairs, both looking down at me, their faces as cold and blank as I was used to seeing them. It wasn't long before they charged off, not sparing a second glance down at us. My previously fearful face fell into one of defeat. _They_ were _made to get the amorphous after all, they_ would _abandon me if it meant success…_ I wondered if Yuyu felt anything as she looked down and saw me down here. It was a little hard to believe now that she was the same person who'd held my hand in the corridors before and told me that I looked good when my hair was braided at my side. There was me thinking they had feelings, thinking that they cared. _Just more human robots following their programming…_

"Why? Aren't you on the same side?" Cocona's voice echoed my thoughts at that moment. _She's gonna be scared enough already down here. I need to act tough. She doesn't need my fear on top of hers._

I forced a smile on my face and my voice to not to shake when I said "That's why I keep saying you're a softie." _Cocona… I wish you weren't caught up in this…_ "Didn't I tell you? My mindset is nothing like yours." _And neither are theirs…_ I thought after looking up at the twins, silhouetted against the red light above.

BONG!

Vibrations shook the whole building, including the red mass me and Cocona were trapped in. A large bronze bell faded into existence above us.

"Crap! The time!" I cursed, that noise shattering my false confidence. Something told me that when the bell hit the eleventh chime now, that it wouldn't loop around and we wouldn't be getting out of here in one piece. I closed my eyes. _We're done for…_

"COCONAAAAA!"

My eyes opened again. I completely forgot about the cyan-haired idiot… who was falling towards the two of us, calling Cocona's name. I wondered what the hell she was thinking (who am I kidding, she probably _doesn't_ think), when her body began to flare with bright blue sparks. Red tentacles tried to snake around the light, attempting to capture her too, and I thought she was gonna get caught too. I felt something like warm jelly encase me and started to panic. _It's eating me! We're done for!_ When a blue bubbly shell curled around me and Cocona, Papika took our hands, and we were pulled free from the grasp of the red mass below.

"You…" I couldn't get any more words out; I was completely stunned. _Papika… chose to save me too?_ We were still being chased by tentacles, stretching and reaching to grab us, although Papika's shield of light wasn't too large, I felt completely safe.

At some point we went past Toto and Yuyu, the latter of which had begun shooting bullets or something from her metal gauntlet. _Has she always been able to do that? Or is that a new feature?_

"Can't touch me!" Papika said, sing-song, at the twins. Part of me really wanted to believe that they were shooting at the tentacles, trying to save all of us from the danger, but I knew the truth was they were just targeting Papika and trying to take her down. I don't know if they knew that'd mean I'd fall too (surely, I was an ally to them at least?)

…And then Papika started to slow down.

"Eh?" came the tiny confused squeak from her mouth? "Why? Why?!" _Please tell me her powers aren't failing._

The red mass managed to tear a large blob away from Papika's light shield, probably taking a fair portion of her power with it. No longer able to float, I quickly wrapped my arms around Papika's shoulders, at just the right time too, she let go of me, and raised Cocona above her head.

"Cocona!" _What the hell are you planning to do? Throw her?!_ "GO!" Papika's voice echoed through the clock tower, as she did indeed, throw Cocona…

…downwards.

Her brown eyes were wide open as she screamed all the way down. _.._

"You idiot! What the crap did you do that for?!" I probably shouldn't have gotten so pissed off at the only reason I was still alive and not in the reaches of whatever monsters lie below, but _she just threw my best friend into danger!_

Papika didn't drop me into the darkness though, despite my outburst, and instead she set us down safely on the stairs that curled around the edge of the tower.

Much to my relief it wasn't long before Cocona came flailing back up, trying to stop herself being forced through the air. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a stick, and for a second, I thought she'd lost her mind too, until I heard her say the words Papika said earlier to transform.

"Flip flapping!"

The end of the stick flared brightly, kinda like it was a magic wand, she waved it and in a stream of light, her blue hair flared out into a flag of bold pink, and her eyes a sky blue as she transformed. She rocketed into the air and up towards the bell.

The tenth chime had just rung out and the eleventh was about to strike.

"It's gonna rewind!" I called out. My heart was pounding like crazy, and this time, it wasn't because Cocona was nearby. Fear flooded my body. Something told me that if we didn't make it, the world wouldn't loop this time when the bell went. If the bell could appear from nothing, who's to say that everything here wouldn't _disappear_ when the time reset? Would the schoolgirls come for us? Was the red mass below the true form of the schoolgirls? Maybe.

All I knew is, if this didn't work, we were dead.

"Cocona!" Papika called out her name, whether to try and cheer her on, or because she was scared, I didn't know. We could only watch.

Cocona's pink hair faded to magenta and she summoned a huge white blade from nowhere. Whether it was encrusted with jewels or scales I couldn't tell, the shape was already shifting, until it became a giant hammer. She let out what sounded like a battle cry as she struck the bell as it hit the eleventh chime…

For the first time in this part of Pure Illusion, the spell was broken, and the clock rang out for a twelfth time…

Everything stopped.

The gears slowly churned to a halt.

The rain outside could no longer be heard against the rooftops of the school.

A yellow glow fell from the face of the clock, and slowly into Cocona's hands…

And then the world began to fall apart.

Tiny cracks began to thread through the brick walls of the clock tower, widening into chasms, exposing blue sky which had probably never been seen in this part of Pure Illusion before.

"What?" Cocona and Papika were both equally confused as to what was happening, both had de-transformed after the 12th strike of the bell. _Dammit, Cocona, I would have thought you'd be smart enough to pick up on this sort of thing by now._

"Time moved forward because you removed the amorphous' defense trap!" I hurriedly explained to them before turning to Toto and Yuyu "Twins!"

"Yeah" Toto responded, pulling out the Hole device from his rocket belt and tossing it at one of the collapsed gears. The twins both walked through it as soon as it was up. I would have done so too, but…

"Papika!"

"Open! Open! Open!"

Cocona and Papika were both hunched on the ground, Papika's hands around Cocona's as she begged for a hole of their own to appear so they could escape. I didn't know why it wasn't working for them, surely, they've both got to be feeling the same… or are they still not close enough yet?

"It's not working!"

"What do we do?!"

_I can't leave them behind… enemies or not, that wouldn't be right._

I walked up to them and grabbed Papika's arm "Hey." Papika flinched, yelping at my touch. Slowly, two pairs of scared eyes, turned to me. Stone kept crashing around us as the building crumbled. "Move, you two! Come on! You wanna live?!" I had to yell at them to shake them out of the fear. Cocona was first to react, she nodded at me, and then gently tugged away from Papika's hands and ran to the Hole. Papika, confused at the loss of Cocona quickly followed behind her. I followed, sparing a glance back at the world that had been my home for the past few days. _And now I'm going back to… the real world._ Although I'd been at Asclepius for years now, I wouldn't consider it my home. I admit I felt a little sad leaving this world behind, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Maybe it could be saved in the future, maybe not. I've never seen this happen before. _Get moving, you idiot!_

I hopped though the Hole quickly, as a part of Pure Illusion died…

Sticking my head through the portal first, to at least check there was solid ground beneath my feet, I quickly stepped through. The green hills and yellow bricks of the school, _my real school,_ were a little much on the eyes after the three weeks of grey I've had to endure. Toto and Yuyu were standing over by some garbage cans. _Do they have any feelings about being back here?_ I wondered how much I saw of the twins, how much I'd learnt about them in that world had been real, and how much of it was just my imagination. They left me when I was trapped at the bottom of the tower… But Yuyu… I've never seen her so… _alive_ before. Would any of that stay with her, or was it just the influence of the place?

"You helped us out?" Cocona's sweet voice broke into my thoughts. Thankfully being back, my heart wasn't beating as hard as it was in the other place, and my brain wasn't going into overdrive at the prospect of a conversation, but somewhere in my soul… maybe what I felt wasn't entirely a fabrication of that world…

"I just didn't wanna owe you anything." I tried to make the words sound as neutral as possible. Whatever I felt, there was no way I could act on it. Not now at least. _I need to keep Cocona safe._

"Hand over the amorphous" I turned to her then and held my hand out. I was probably coming across pretty harsh, but right now I didn't care. Seeing a world in Pure Illusion die… That could happen again. Heck, that may not have even been the first time such a thing has happened. What about those places we went to before? Are they gone now we've taken the amorphous from them?

_Does Cocona know she just destroyed a whole world?_

No. And she doesn't need to.

What she needs is to be safe. If she and Papika collect amorphous Asclepius will hunt them down, maybe even kill them.

Cocona recoiled when I glared at her, her hands tightened around the amorphous in her hands and she pulled it closer to her as if to protect it. Papika saw Cocona's distress and jumped in "No way!"

_You idiots._

"It's not the type of thing you think it is" _These stupid things are going to cause so much trouble; you have no idea. Just, please, Cocona, hand it over now._

She gasped and looked at me, upset. Anger slowly started to build in me. I've never really been mad at Cocona before, I think it was starting to come across as she gasped. She knew I wasn't the easiest person to handle sometimes, but I'd _never_ acted like this to her before. Maybe she'd get the message if I tried to show how serious I was.

I saw a yellow glow flicker in her eyes and she looked back up at me, saying a word that could seal her fate.

"No." The word hit me like a bomb. She continued: "Papika and I found this together"

The pink-haired idiot had a big smile on her face… not that I could blame her. _I'd smile like that too if I we swapped places and Cocona chose me over handing the amorphous over to the other team…_

Fine.

"Are you prepared for what that entails?" I wasn't going to stop her if that's what she chose, but she should at least be ready for what could happen.

"Not at all!" _Are you kidding me, Cocona?_ "But if you're trying to do something dangerous, I'll stop you!" _It's not_ me _that's planning to do bad things with it!_

"We'll never lose!" Papika took a step forward, determination shining in her eyes.

_All you had to do was just hand it over, Cocona…_ Sighing, I turned my back on them, and went back to base with Toto and Yuyu. Papika called after me, but I ignored her. _If it wasn't for you Cocona wouldn't be in this mess…_

There was nothing more to do for now. Asclepius sent some doctors over to me to check me over, make sure there hadn't been any adverse effects from being in Pure Illusion for so long, (they can't have their precious link to that world and ultimate power go dying on them after all), the twins were checked over too, they went back to their room and continued on like nothing happened.

When I was finally left alone, all I could do was sit and stare, and think of Cocona…

* * *

_Authors note: Why, yes, All of Chapter 5's main adventure_ is _almost literally half of the story up to this point. The first 4 chapters or so are around 18k words, and chapter 5 alone is 18k words. …What? It's probably my favourite episode in the whole show, and I had fun writing this. I'm not sure if I managed to nail the horror-aspects of the world or anything, but I tried my best, I hope you like it!_

_My story might make a few changes from the anime in places, so although I'll still be following the main story/main events, there may be a few things that are different..._


	8. Episode 6

Despite being away in Pure Illusion for what felt like 3 weeks, in the real world, maybe an hour or two had passed. Feeling jetlagged never really happened after visits to Pure Illusion, but the fact time passed differently in most of the worlds compared to real life? It could throw you off sometimes, even with all the years of experience I had. Part of me wanted to head back in there, preferably to one of the safer worlds I'd been in before, just so I could have some time to sit and try and process everything that had happened…

Man, that place could really mess with your mind sometimes.

The head priest wasn't pleased when we came back without an amorphous this time. After all our success before, I guess it was understandable, but his reaction was probably as animated as I'd ever seen him.

"We _need_ those shards! Mimi's power _must_ be ours!" He threw his arms wide like a cartoon villain as he made rambled on about how important it was to get our hands on them 'for the good of the world'.

Rolling my eyes, (the head priest now having turned his back on me, too caught up in his rant to care what his precious key to Pure Illusion was doing) I left the room and wandered around Asclepius' base for a while. Before I knew it, I found myself standing outside the lab that Toto and Yuyu stayed in. I was about to open the door when a thought stopped me.

_Can I trust them after our adventure in the school?_ Toto I hadn't really learnt a lot about in there, but Yuyu… I kind of wanted to see…

Yuyu wasn't Cocona, but ever since I'd gotten to know her a little better (or at least the fact she seemed to like music and was interested in playing the piano), I found myself wanting to warm up to her more… …What could I even say though? I'm their only link to the real world, to everything outside of this cultist organisation and Pure Illusion, and I knew next to nothing about either of the twin's interests beyond that… But I feel like I should try and make an effort to learn more about them, and treat them like normal kids, because frag knows they won't get the chance otherwise.

_Would even they be interested in that sort of thing?_ They were literally _made_ to collect amorphous, that's basically their entire life. I'd never know if I never asked… but… would it be too late for that now?

Stuck in a loop of thoughts, I probably stood out there a lot longer than I should have done. A part of me wanted to go in and talk to them, and the other… was too scared to make a move. Five different people walked past me in all that time (none of them tried talking to me, why would they?) I hesitated. Eventually my thoughts wandered back to the head priest of Asclepius, cursing the fact he was no closer to having a wish granted for ultimate power come true, when a question came to me: _What would the twins do if they could have a wish granted? Was there anything they wanted?_

… _If I had a wish, what would I wish for?_

At that moment the door to the twin's room opened and they both stepped out. They showed no sign of surprise seeing me there, I don't know if they were expecting me to be there, or what, but it was kinda hard to believe how blank their faces were. _Did Yuyu really smile at me in that other world, or was it just my mind, or that world, playing tricks on me?_ I opened my mouth to speak, only to lose my nerve, and walked away.

A report came in the next morning from the android posing as Cocona's grandmother. Apparently Cocona's been having dreams the past few nights, all about the same thing. That was all the information there was about the subject, but it was enough to send the head priest into an enthusiastic bombardment of sentences.

"Mimi must be trying to make contact with the other half of the Direct Drive through Cocona! She's still alive! We can bring her back soon!"

I was ready to just dismiss him again when the fact he'd said 'Direct Drive' again and then Cocona's name after that… along with saying how the person whose magic shards we were collecting was _still alive?_

I wanted some time to sit down and think about all this when a klaxon went off, echoing through the building.

"Cocona's moving!" the head priest exclaimed, the excitement of this revelation making him dance around like a little kid that needed to go to the bathroom.

_Guess I should get going…_ I headed for the portal room, running into Toto and Yuyu on the way. I felt uneasy as I walked with them to wherever the next gateway to Pure Illusion took us. Although we walked in synch, and have basically done so all the time we've known each other, I doubted we were thinking and feeling the same right now. My face probably gave my unease away, nervous eyes darting all around, a stray drop of sweat trying to work its way down the side of my head.

The quick glances I stole of Yuyu and Toto revealed them both to be looking at me, blankly. Once again, I wondered if they were communicating telepathically to each other, and standing between them, maybe I could pick up on those thoughts 'Saved them' 'untrustworthy'.

_Well, they wouldn't be wrong about that last one. I've been lying to Cocona in all the time I've known her after all…_

The portal room shone with bright light as the next destination was set. Taking a deep breath, I tried to clear my mind.

_We're here for the amorphous. That's out mission._

And then we went through…

* * *

Seeing thick rainbows of web below I put a foot down, hesitant, trying to feel if it would break under me. Feeling it was solid, I fully stepped through. Toto and Yuyu weren't far behind. I could feel their eyes staring at the back of my head as they joined me.

"What the hell is your problem?!" I yelled at them. The sudden outburst had taken me by surprise, as I honestly didn't think I was so bothered by their behaviour lately… _It's not even been a full day since that last adventure._ Yeah, it was probably unfair of me to shout out like that, but apparently, I was mad, even though I didn't feel like it.

"Have you forgotten your mission?" Toto asked. Yuyu cocked her head to the side, awaiting my answer.

Growling, I didn't bother replying properly "Let's just go" I said. Maybe walking could cool me off a bit.

This wasn't the first world I'd entered that made me think a famous artist had designed it, or at least gotten inspiration for their work from here. Colours swirled together into root-like forms that spread across the ground. The land had a chaotic look to it, as if someone had filled an ocean with nothing but paint, and the result was just a solidified, vibrant mess that stunk of oil pastels, and felt like we were walking on chalk. It wouldn't surprise me if when we came back from this world our shoes tracked colourful footprints everywhere. The sky of this world could have been the complete opposite of the land below. It felt kinda like a cross between the skies of the desert world we'd been to before, and the creepy school; black, white, and scribbles.

It was still taking me a while to get used to seeing such bright colours again after being in a grey world for so long, my eyes began to sting a little just _looking_ at this place. I was tempted to put my visor up, try and save my brain from having all these constant shocks of colour…

I've heard of 'dazzle camouflage' before, where ships were painted in bright bold patterns, not to hide from the enemy, but to create confusion as to how far away the target actually was, and never really thought about how effective a thing it would have been… Not until I was here in Pure Illusion, feeling like I was walking downstairs, and was constantly losing my footing every other step. Yeah, I'm putting the visor on.

I don't know why I didn't just do that in the first place, although my screen was full of green wire frames now, it was much easier to work out where the hell I was actually putting my feet. The twins were having no such problem, walking as if this was perfectly normal.

The ground vibrated as a yellow cloud of dust billowed up in the distance. All our heads turned in that direction.

"Cocona found" came Toto's voice. A couple of small yellow dots appeared, flitting across my visor screen… along with a larger one. _Cocona, I wish you'd stop running into monsters …_

"Let's go!" I commanded, and we all charged.

Arriving at the scene we saw a transformed Cocona and Papika fighting a creature that looked similar to the one that we encountered in the desert world… although this one had a lot more eyes. Even though its body looked solid, somehow the eyes (and overly-large eye sockets they sat in) could glide seamlessly around and cluster all in one point if they wanted. We saw this as a cyan-haired Papika blasted it in those very eyes with twin energy guns. More clouds burst up from the spot where the monster used to be, creating a multi-coloured haze.

I clicked my visor off and saw a faint blue glow peeking out from inside the dust… _Is that the amorphous?_ Dashing in, hand outstretched, I leapt into the fray and grabbed it from the air. It sparkled green in my hands for an instant.

I heard 4 sets of footsteps touch down, two behind me (Toto and Yuyu), my own, and Papika (who was looking at me in angry disbelief). Rightfully so I guess, as I did just steal the amorphous from right under her nose. I was pretty tempted to rub it in her face, that I was the one holding it despite her and Cocona having done the hard work.

"Heya" I said with a sneer, looking down on Papika.

Cocona said my name in surprise, whereas the cyan-haired idiot looked up at me, mad. "Not fair!"

"No fair?" "No fair" The twins echoed. _Are they mocking her?_

"So what?" I called down to Papika. I didn't care if it meant I'd get in another fight with her, I was getting pretty sick of all my damn thoughts and uncertainty on everything, it'd be nice to have something to take it out on, and what better than the person that stole my only friend from me?

"Give it back!" She yelled up at me. In the same instant, our feet left the ground and we darted off in opposite directions. Papika was charging her energy guns, aiming at me, screaming as she flew backwards, letting the shots off. Activating the speed boost on my gear, I ran vertically up a wall, dodging between strands of candy-coloured spiderwebs, in an attempt to avoid her blasts.

"You can't hit me with that!" I yelled at her over my shoulder. I was probably getting too cocky now, and going by the fact Papika leapt at me to attack, I was just proven right. "Damn it! I cursed myself for my stupidity. For someone who overthinks, I really need to learn to think my actions through. "Let me go!" I said to Papika, who had a pretty good grip on me, she was scrabbling with her hands all oer my combat gear, I thought at first she was trying to scratch me... although after we landed in a blue bubble and were launched our seperate ways I saw her a moment later holding out the sparkling blue shard to Cocona. _She stole the amorphous back from me!_

Yuyu must have been watching us the whole time, it wasn't long before she divebombed down, fist ready, to pummel Papika. Apparently Yuyu wasn't the only one watching. Cocona noticed Yuyu about to attach and raised her massive blade, ready to shield her from Yuyu's impact (pretty good thing she did too, as Yuyu activated the rocket booster on it, Papika probably wouldn't even _have_ a face after a hit from that, magic or not. Also good, because it means Cocona's paying attention to her surroundings.)

Yellow, blue, and pink flame flared out from the impact of the two weapons, and a great explosion tore a hole in the world. Yuyu jumped away, leaving Cocona and Papika to fall into the abyss below. The yellow robot wheeled over to the hole and followed them.

"Tch." _I hope it's a long time before Papika gets out of there._

"Let your guard down?" Yuyu asked. _I don't need you on my case..._

"I did not-!" _Calm down. You don't want to annoy your only teammates_ "...maybe a little" _The Flip Flappers have the amorphous, you need it back_ "Let's go!"

We all hopped down into the underground layer of this world... I guess there has to be an underground in lots of places in Pure Illusion, but this is the first time I'd actually walked around one... It looked like there were lots of layers above us... I want to say kinda like layers and layers of honeycomb, but like the rest of the land in the world, like it was dipped in a rainbow. A thin white mist rolled along the ground, damp and cold. The smell of oil pastels was gone, which I was fine with.

Toto's visor picked up their signals underground and pointed us in the right direction. We weren't too far away when the ground underneat started to rumble. _An earthquake?_ I was ready to grapple myself to safety if I had to, but the rumbling stopped almost as soon as it started. The twins didn't seem too phased by the occurance and continued walking up to a nearby ledge, shortly followed by me.

Jelly-like blobs were scattered around, shining like gemstones, on the land beneath us. Cocona, Papika and their companion robot were there too, backs facing us. It would have been the perfect chance for a sneak attack... If it wasn't for what they were standing in front of. It would have looked harmless, like the gateway to a shrine, if it wasn't for the shifting red and black colours within.

"What's that Hole?" I asked. It was uncommon, but still possible, to run into natural Holes in Pure Illusion that would take you to another place, I'd seen a few before myself in my time, most of which Toto steered me away from entering (which made sense, there's no telling what's on the other side. I shuddered thinking about the tetris-block world where I would have fallen to my death if Yuyu hadn't grabbed me) but this one... Gave of a menacing aura, I felt uneasy just looking at it.

"Analyse it" Yuyu said to Toto. His headset beeped as he tried to get information.

"Coordinates aren't showing" He said. I gasped in shock, and even Yuyu made a confused noise. _Oh shit!_

"STAY AWAY!" I yelled down to Papika and Cocona. I didn't care if I gave away our position, no coordinates for a location in Pure Illusion _never_ happened. Everywhere was _somewhere_ in here. Each world, safe or dangerous, had _something_ to tell you where it was, even if the coordinates made no sense half of the time, there were _always_ numbers to tell you, and if they weren't showing...

I was about to shout another warning, but barely managed beyond the first word. They both had their hands out, basically _touching_ the Hole, and it wasn't long before the white colours of their gloves were draining, washed by black. Papika hardly had time to scream before the rest of the portal sucked her and Cocona in, the amorphous torn from her hand, as if by some invisible force.

I stood there in disbelief. _Were we too late?_ They were here one minute, and... now they're gone...

"Check again, Toto! There _have_ to be coordinates!" I shouted at him before jumping down to where the girls had been standing a few seconds before.

"Nothing" He said. _That can't be right, he has to be lying._

Clicking my headgear, I sifted through tried every setting on my visor I could think of, to try and pick a scrap of information up about the Hole in front of us...

...Toto wasn't lying.

There was nothing.

_What's just happened?_ _Was Cocona okay? Are they still alive in there?_

I was about to lose myself in my thoughts, when barely a moment later, they both flew out of the Hole and landed in a yellow jelly blob, not far from where the amorphous landed. I gasped again in disbelief.

"My head hurts..." Papika whined, rubbing a hand against her cyan hair.

"You two. What happened in there?" There was no keeping the surprise out of my voice. I wanted to sound tough an intimidating, but I was just too stunned. _They just went in to an area of Pure Illusion that had no information about it. Were there monsters? Buildings? Aliens? Was it the ocean? Outer space? Was there_ anything _in there?_

Papika was the one who answered first "Well, Iro..."

"I'm Iro" Cocona cut in.

"But I'm Iro."

"Iro?"

"Iro"

_Iro? What the heck is that?_ _What happened in there?_ Whatever it was, it sounded like there was a long story behind it, not one we'd have time for right now. My heart was pounding fast from my panic earlier, I took a deep breath to calm down. The past few adventures here have driven all my senses and emotions into overdrive, I've probably had enough fear to last a lifetime. _Pure Illusion is gonna kill me._

"We're outta here. This feels risky." I got the words out quickly, relieved they were safe at least, and picked up the amorphous. I heard Papika squeak and turned back to look at her and Cocona. _Learn your lesson, you two. Don't do anything dumb like that again._

* * *

We got back to Asclepius' base, handed the amorphous over, took off my combat stuff, got dressed back into my school uniform, and then went right to my room so I could be left alone and try and process everything that's happened to me lately.

My room was probably the most colourful place in Asclepius' whole building, even though the soft blues weren't the boldest in the world, but it was a lot more calming than just plain greys. There was little in the ways of decoration, a shelf that had a few books Cocona gave me, and also a few stray souvenirs from trips to Pure Illusion when I was younger and wasn't quite aware of what I was getting into. Probably shouldn't have taken them back with me, but the world hasn't exploded yet, so I figure it's fine. A couple of weirdly shaped rocks I liked, a gold feathery leaf from a plant I just thought was kind of neat (it came from a world of metal, everything gleamed. I need to go back there one day), and something I couldn't leave behind the instant I saw it there…

I walked over and picked it up from the shelf, an old children's storybook tumbling to the floor as I did so. It wasn't anything too special really, just an oddly flat disc, like a record with rings of all sorts of colours rippling through it, around the same size too. It was highly polished, whether it was made by some civilisation that lived in Pure Illusion, or it was just some strange naturally growing crystal I don't know. At first, I thought this is what an amorphous was when I saw it, and was disappointed that the head priest dismissed it, saying it was too large and had to air of power around it… Nowadays I couldn't be happier my strange discovery wasn't taken by them. Tracing my fingers over the whorls of warm coffee brown, and bizarre shades of bluish purple you'd catch if you saw the sunset, I felt a little more at peace… No two guesses why I was so heavily insistent on taking it back with me. I didn't have any photos of Cocona… well, I had maybe one or two on my phone, but I never really looked at the thing (never knew where the hell it was half the time, to be honest) but this… this disc of rock… Something about it just made me feel like I was at home, beyond whenever I was with Cocona herself…

_What would I wish for?_

The question I thought of earlier today came back to me. Looking down at the object in my hands, it was probably pretty obvious what I'd wish for if I would. _I wish Cocona was kept safe. That she didn't have to worry about anything, and that I could take her to Pure Illusion. She'd be my friend more than Papika's friend, and we'll have fun, and Asclepius won't be there to… mess things up…_

_Asclepius is the reason I even know Cocona. Asclepius is the reason I'm her friend in the first place… I was meant to deceive her… but I can't. She's_ _my friend…_

I put the blue-brown rock back on the shelf and kneeled down to pick up the book that I'd nudged when something caught my eye.

I carefully picked up a thin silver chain that was hidden in the pages of the book. _This necklace…_ An orange gemstone dangled from the chain, it was tiny, but it was important…

Cocona bought it for me when she came back from a vacation once with her grandmother. She told me it was a dragon's egg and it would hatch and then the dragon would protect me. She was pretty upset when she found out that wasn't the case. Poor girl, she'd been reading too many stories, she cried for a long time that day when she found out the truth about it…

It was the only gift I'd ever been given. I treasured it like anything, and in the whole mess of Pure Illusion lately, _I'd completely forgotten it existed._

Running a finger along the silver chain though, I guess in a way she wasn't wrong. The dragon egg hadn't hatched, and it never would, but Toto and Yuyu had always been there to protect me, no matter what adventures I'd been on…

_And what would they wish for?_

I hid the necklace back in the tattered old book and made up my mind. If Cocona can be a genuine friend to me, and one of few links to the outside world I was allowed, I could go make an effort to befriend the twins. They might be artificial humans, but I've seen enough of them to know there's more to them than just that. They're _real people_ and need to be treated like such. If I somehow screw up my friendship with Cocona, I'll have other people I can talk to at least.

With that thought, I rushed out from my room and to the lab the twins stayed in…

…And froze outside the door again, unable to get myself to move. _Why does this keep happening?_ I was pretty sure I'd be good to ask them anything I wanted, it wasn't likely their room would be bugged (they hardly said a word after all, what would there be to overhear? The lab assistants would report anything to the head priest anyway, so there wouldn't be a need for it), and yet here I was, standing outside their room again, my brain seemingly unable to function.

"Oh, for cream breads sake!" I cursed out loud and went back to my own room and flopped backwards onto my bed, eyes closed. _Why is this so damn difficult? What the hell is wrong with me?!_

I lied there for a while, going over things in my head, but eventually I just tired myself out, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

_Authors note: The next chapter will be pretty long. Not quite as long as chapter 5's main adventure, but I'll still split it into two parts so you don't just get a (roughly) 15/16k word wall of text to read. I don't know how many people will actually make it this far in my story (I know the Flip Flappers fandom is pretty small, and even then, my story is far from perfect) But yes! For those of you who get this far, I appreciate it! Thank you!  
_


	9. Episode 7 - Part 1

Although I slept, I felt a bit like I hadn't gotten too much rest. My brain was still alive with thoughts, and also somehow completely dead at the same time. I could think things, but they didn't really go anywhere. All the adventures the past few days must have finally caught up to me, as I was pretty out of it, and it wasn't long before I was sent to the nurse's office by a teacher. The nurse was away again, so Cocona was sitting in the room with me. She was sitting on the table in front of me, looking kinda down. Concerned, I asked her what was up, and she told me all about Irodori-senpai, the person who painted the picture out in the hall of a dark, shadowy scene, and how she was throwing all her other paintings away.

"Well, everyone has times when they just can't be bothered" I said, about to dig in to my almond cream bread. _After all, I gave up on track and field when I realised Pure Illusion was a much more fun playground than the ones at school…_

"Is that really it?" Cocona didn't sound so sure about my theory as to why Irodori was acting so different all of a sudden. _What the heck am I meant to say here? I have no idea who this person is..._

"That aside..." Maybe I shouldn't have changed the subject when Cocona seemed to be bothered by her senpai's change in behaviour, but I had something on my mind too I wanted to get out of my system "Remember that dark Hole you saw the other day? You shouldn't ever go near there again"

"Why not?" She said, sounding scared.

"The rumours say it's a tunnel that leads to Hell..." I glared at her to try and drive home my point "Enter it again, and you might not be able to come back" _I have no idea what's behind that Hole you went through, but what if that was the only way into that world and it shut off? I know you're a curious soul, Cocona, but you should be more cautious of your surroundings._

"...Hell?" Cocona gulped nervously, her eyes huge with fear. _Did I go too far?_

"Just messing with you."

"You jerk!"

"By the way, what'd you see in there?" I asked. I didn't really think I'd get an answer, but I was curious.

Cocona hesitated before she spoke "...Senpai's memories"

Not much could put me off my cream bread, but hearing that made me feel sick, and killed my appetite. _Someone's memories? Is that... possible? Did she change reality by going back through someone's memories?_

_What if she stumbled across mine one day? If she found out I was working with an organisation, if the whole reason we were friends in the first place, was because I was meant to recruit you and bring you over to Asclepius... That our friendship was built on a lie, and that you were a target to me first, and not a human being?_

_I know you're not aware of the fact you destroyed the school's world, it was an old one anyway, but... if going into Pure Illusion let you change things in the real world, if you would work out how to manipulate that..._

_...Is this what Asclepius is working towards... Is... this what I'm a part of?_

"That place is really dangerous" I said, only really now becoming aware of what I was a part of. _This is messed up..._

"Maybe we could-" Cocona's response, whatever it was going to be, was cut off by the school nurse as she entered the room, ushering us out as classes had started. I slowly trailed behind Cocona, the impact of everything I've been doing working for Asclepius, suddenly weighing heavily on my shoulders.

After school that day me and the twins were sent into Pure Illusion again, chasing after the Flip Flappers who'd been sent there a few minutes ago, according to the tracking device in Cocona's arm. Standing there, I felt a lot more uncomfortable than usual. Everyone normally watched us as we entered the portal, this was nothing new, but... all I could think about was how _wrong_ everything felt now. The people watching me were all a part of a cult who wanted to change the world, and going by what I heard this morning, it wasn't just some crazy theory, _it could actually happen._.. And I was helping them do it. I couldn't run away from them; they'd just track me and find me again. Even if I went to Cocona and Papika and begged to change side and join Flip Flap, I'd just be bringing Asclepius to their base, and they'd be destroyed. Could I resist them? No. There were far too many, it would be suicide, and the twins probably wouldn't help me even if I tried.

I'm stuck, in this stupid, awful, situation and there's nothing I can do.

The portal flared to life in front of me, and I was struck by another thought.

_They can't follow me into Pure Illusion..._

I jumped through the instant the Hole was open, the twins barely a step behind me.

A harsh wind whipped around me. My lungs felt like they were on fire, my skin like it was being eaten by acid, and my eyes itched like hell. I wanted to scream, feeling somehow that might help me, but no sound came out. There was no way to expel this pain. A headache began to form behind my eyes, and heat began to bubble inside me. _What's... happening?_ The bones in my arms felt like they were pulling apart into fragments, trying to rip me up from the inside. I tried to force myself to curl into a ball, as if that could somehow protect me from the pain I was wracked with.

I could only see darkness... No, not quite. Faint silver shapes were there, far, far behind me. _Toto and Yuyu?_ I tried reaching out for them, even though I knew it was impossible to make contact. They were holding each other by the wrists, their red eyes tiny specks in the shadows.

_Our thoughts weren't synched up..._

They were torn away from me as I passed out.

How the hell I woke up at all after all that, I'll never know. Consciousness came back to me slowly, and part of me was pretty thankful it did. Travelling through Pure Illusion was _never_ that painful, and if there were any side effects, I didn't want them to hit me all at once.

Ok, the fact everything came back to me slowly was pretty bad too, but I didn't want to just be instantly hit with unbearable pain all over again.

Feeling came back to my fingers first. I moved them slowly, not wanting to strain anything, in case I'd taken permanent damage from my journey here. Nothing hurt as I wiggled them gently, brushing against... _Is that grass?_ That alone was pretty strange. Pure Illusion's land was almost always flat. It might _sound_ like you were walking on a stony beach, pebbles crunching under your feet, but it was almost always flat. Of course, I've seen snow once or twice, and the odd patches of grass in Pure Illusion in all the time I've been here, but the feeling having come back to my arms now, and waving them along the ground... this was a _lot_ more than just a single patch.

My eyes were scrunched closed, but I could see faint light through my eyelids. _Do I dare open them?_

I did, slowly. Being confronted by a wave of green grass and a blue sky was pretty unusual. _Am I dead?_ _Did I make it though the Hole alive?_

I tried pushing myself up with my arms, my legs were still numb and didn't want to respond yet, so I was still mostly lying down as I took a look around.

I blinked in surprise.

"School?"

The word seemed very... loud. Striking. Clear... I'm not sure, but something about it really stood out, but... Looking at the statue of the thinking man I'd seen Cocona and Papika standing near, after one of their adventures to Pure Illusion... Yeah, this is the exact same place. I was here when I was looking for Uexkull. I've climbed a few of these trees... and there's the one that stupid yellow robot crashed into...

But I can't be home, I went through the Hole. I saw Toto and Yuyu in the void between worlds... although we _were_ seperated...

_I should find them._

It was a while before the feeling came back to my legs so I could actually stand up, and even then, I stumbled around unbalanced for quite a while before I could finally find myself able to walk.

My footsteps seemed unnaturally loud as I walked around. They were probably just the same volume as they always were (gravity was the same, the air seemed the same) but it felt like everything I did echoed. Even just touching two fingers together, I felt a bit like little shockwaves would have been given out... That was the only real hint that this wasn't quite the real world but... Everything looked just like home.

I was used to all sorts of strangeness from my many journeys into Pure Illusion, insane dimensions and pocket spaces of abstract worlds, but through all that strangeness, I had Toto and Yuyu with me. The twins barely spoke, but it was good to have backup against whatever threat I faced here. But now? I was in the safest place I knew, no weird monsters or hordes of evil schoolgirls, no crossbow wielding pervert gangsters...

And I was terrified. Walking down familiar streets, places I've come to know incredibly well in the past few years... but completely devoid of life. There were a couple cats I knew that stalked along the fences of this very road pretty often, and they weren't around. School kids would be standing around and joking over by that street corner... But there was no one there.

This world was empty.

The buildings around me seemed larger to me all of a sudden, their bright, friendly colours started to seem threatening. Overwhelming.

Before I knew it, I was running. Anxiety flooding my body, as the more and more I looked around, the less and less life I saw. I'd say it felt like I was in a ghost town, but there weren't even any ghosts. There was nothing. My feet hit cobbled ground, flat brick, and swished through green grass, everything becoming a blur to me. _This isn't right. Where's Toto and Yuyu? They should be here with me. I need someone, anyone..._

The only sound that accompanied me in this world, beyond my own footfalls, was birdsong. That would have been fine in any other situation, but I had a look around everywhere and there were no birds. The sound just sort of... triggered, like you were playing a video game and if you stepped on a certain space the sound would play, or a trap would spring...

_Trap. This world will have a trap. I need to keep an eye out, look for something different. If I can work that out, then I can get out of here, or maybe I'll meet up with Toto and Yuyu again..._ I felt a bit better now I had a goal, rather than just running aimlessly, but it was hard to shake feeling unsettled by everything.

_I need to sit down and have a break._

I spotted a café nearby and figured I'd go in. A tiny bell rang above the door as I entered... Not that it'd really alert anyone to my presence as this world is as empty as a void, but to hear something I could actually see, was reassuring.

Despite lack of people, all the furniture in the place looked like it'd been freshly cleaned and polished, not a speck of dust anywhere on the wooden surfaces of the empty tables. Sunlight spilled through the windows, casting shadows across parts of the room. It all looked pretty normal here... but I should still be careful. Scanning around the room, I tried to see if there was anything in here that seemed particularly out of place. This place probably existed in the real world, but I can't say I've ever been in it, so I'm not sure I would have been able to notice anything out of place...

Not until I spotted that there was food behind some of the glass cabinets at least. Upon closer inspection, what was even stranger was that it all looked _fresh._ No mold anywhere.

And then my eyes lit up as I caught sight of cream bread. My stomach rumbled, probably hungry from all the running around I did earlier. I snuck around the back of the counter, then had another look around the shop, just to double check it was empty and I wouldn't be caught. Everything looked fine.

I took the plate out of the display case, held the bread, had a bite…

_Oh wow…_ You could argue I'd think this about any cream bread, but _damn_ this was _nice!_ I thought the almond bread I had this morning was pretty top-notch and couldn't be beaten, but _this_ … it was _so good…_

"Enjoying yourself?"

I nearly choked upon hearing the voice, the owner of which swiftly began thumping me on the back. When I recovered, I turned to them to apologise for stealing the bread, when my breath hitched in my throat.

Her hair was shoulder length, full, and wavy, and she had a sneaky, little, smirk on her lips and her brown eyes glinted with mischief, but it was very definitely "…Cocona?"

"Ya ya ka~" She said each syllable of my name slowly, a little sing-song-y. Good gosh, I thought the influence the yuri school had on me was bad, but just my name and Cocona's appearance here… My face was probably as hot and red as a tomato that was on fire.

_That's not Cocona_ , a tiny voice in my head told me, and deep down I knew it was right. I should probably have said that out loud, to try and reinforce the fact, but all that came out of my mouth was a little squeak. The fake Cocona giggled, at my bewilderment.

"Can I get you anything, Yayaka?" she said. I could only stare for a long time, before I swallowed, trying to get rid of the dryness in my mouth and managed to say I wanted a drink. She nodded, gestured to me to sit down at one of the tables, and I waited for her to return.

Looking out the window, the emptiness of the world didn't quite feel so strange to me. I've not really been along this street before, so I didn't know how many people would normally walk by here. Telling myself this part of town was usually like this made it a bit easier to handle

Cocona (no, she's not the real Cocona. I need another name for her) came back, wearing an apron (which had frills at the edges) over the top of her school uniform, holding a tray with a floral pattern on it, smiling and humming to herself, as she made her way across the café. The sight made me smile, and also feel kinda nervous at the same time, although I wasn't sure why.

She took a mug from her tray, revealing the drink she'd prepared for me to be coffee, and placed it on the table next to me before sitting down at a table, and beckoning me over to it. _Coffee… Ko-hi… Cocona… Coco-hi!_

Slowly, cautiously, I sat down opposite her, and tried not to get too mesmerised by the sight of her face doused in sunlight, her wavy hair like the ocean, and those eyes as sweet as chocolate. _She is awfully cute…_

We sat in silence for a long while, before I could finally get my hands to stop shaking enough so I could take the mug from the table and have some of the coffee.

"How is it?" Cocohi asked, her head tilting to the side, watching me as I took a drink. The action made me feel suddenly shy, and I couldn't quite meet her gaze. My hands were shaking a little as I lifted the mug to my lips.

Managing to take a sip of the warm liquid without spilling any of it over the table was probably a miracle. I felt a bit better with my mouth not as dry as it was moments ago. I wasn't really the biggest fan of coffee, but I didn't have the heart to tell that to Cocohi.

"It's not bad" I said, trying to get out the politest way I could word it. She seemed disappointed by my reaction and pouted. "I mean, I don't really drink coffee" I continued, staring down at the steam rising from the mug, I couldn't help thinking about the haunted school in Pure Illusion, and the tea rooms there. _The time loop might not have been so bad if I was stuck with Cocona instead of the twins…_

"Would some cream bread be better?" she asked. Shyly, I nodded. She got up from the table and went over to the cabinet of all the food that was on display. She grabbed something else from the counter, and returned with a plate of almond cream bread, looking almost identical to the stuff I was eating earlier in the nurses' office, and placed it down on the table.

I raised my head to look at her and say thank you, but found myself unable to. Partly because my nervousness was making it hard to talk, but mostly because I noticed Cocohi was wearing glasses now. I guess she must have put them on to read the labels for the food, and forgotten to take them off. _The real Cocona hasn't worn her glasses in a long time…_ I hadn't quite realised it until then, but I kinda missed them.

I took a bite of the almond cream bread. It tasted of heaven, and I wanted nothing more than to just shove the whole lot into my mouth, but I began to feel sick again not too long after. Not from too much cream bread (okay, maybe I've had a _little_ too much), but because it made me think of talking with Cocona in the nurse's office earlier and how she seemed worried about Sempai acting differently after she and Papika did something in Pure Illusion.

"Something wrong?" Cocohi's sweet honey-like voice crept into my thoughts and broke them for a second. Her head was resting on her hands, as she looked at me.

_Yes. I don't want you to be like this, Cocona. I don't want to risk you changing like this. I don't want to mess up the only good thing in the world._

I was about to answer Cocohi, when I stood up and went to look at her, and she was gone, leaving only the glasses she was wearing as any evidence she'd been there at all.

_This world has a trap. That can't be it, that was too easy to get rid of._

Leaving the coffee shop, I went for a walk to try and clear my head.

I guess at least this world isn't _completely_ empty, as running into Cocohi in the café proved, but hearing the birdsong with no birds still wasn't quite right to me. The buildings seemed less threatening to me though, tall blocks of colour no longer looming over me… or not quite at least. They still felt oddly large, but again, that's probably the fact that I was seemingly the only person in the world at that point.

I wasn't really sure where I could go next, there were so many places in the town, there was no telling where would be important, and where was just an empty building. _You never get tourists here, but there have to be places people would visit..._

It was at that point where I saw a sign for an aquarium that wasn't too far away. _Perfect._ There probably wasn't going to be anything there, not even any fish, but it definitely stood out amongst everything else... Mostly because, now I think about it, I've been past here a couple of times in the real world and have never seen the sign. If it was a place fabricated entirely by Pure Illusion, then there _has_ to be something there...

Or it could have been quite a newly built thing, and I just never heard about it.

Either way, my next destination decided, I headed on over.

Stone pillars carved into the shapes of fish sat outside the aquarium entrance, along with a water fountain. Curious, I had a peek in the fountain, but saw nothing in the rippling depths of the water. _Well, it's an aquarium, they wouldn't want the main attractions out here for all to see, would they?_

I walked past the admission booths and had a look around. There was a map, which I investigated. It looked like there was a path which lead all the way around the place, including a tunnel where the fish would swim over you, with a few stops along the way. Jellyfish, giant crabs… does that say 'shark petting pool'?

Yes. It does.

Well, I know where I'm going!

I was kinda relieved to see that there _were_ indeed fish on display in the place, but it wasn't long before paranoia began to set in again. _How do you know this isn't the thing that'll kill you? All the tanks bursting open, and either you drowning, or all the fish attacking?_ My curiosity of all the sea creatures dwindled as I went along, now watchful for anything that could be dangerous. If these fish tanks all suddenly burst and I was surrounded by poisonous lion-fish and electric eels, I was dead. _And there's no telling what other tricks Pure Illusion could have up its sleeve in a place like this…_

I managed to read the shark petting pool without any trouble, and was happy to see there _were_ sharks gliding in the water below me. The only sound in the room was a gentle splashing as the water lapped against the side of the walls of the pool, and a faint hum of machinery, presumably keeping everything running. _Is there a sign anywhere that tells me how to pet them?_ I was about to turn away to see if there was, when I saw a reflection in the water, and my heart skipped a beat.

The owner of the reflection slowly dipped their hand into the water, just as a shark's eye passed by, and held her hand near it. After the shark had sawm past her, she withdrew her hand, and turned to look at me. I knew I'd be looking at Cocona's gentle smile, but I still wasn't prepared for it, I could feel my cheeks flush a light pink.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, even though that was probably a really dumb question. _I just saw her pet a shark_ "Never mind. Can you help me?"

Cocona's feet hardly made a sound in the room, which was strange considering how damn loud everything else in this world seemed to be. She seemed to be stepping on tiptoes, light-footed, looking almost graceful as she got closer, with that light smile never leaving her face. Upon closer inspection her hair seemed kinda fluffier than the real Cocona's… _Another fake…_

Her hand touched mine, and I was so shocked I almost slapped her. I managed to wave her hand off at least, and she took a step away from me, hand near her chest, her face looking hurt, the expression seemed more painful to me, than if I _did_ slap her.

"S-sorry," I stammered, shocked by my own behaviour "That was unexpected, I didn't mean to lash out." _It's just been so long since I've had physical human contact like that…_ I thought about Yuyu taking my hand in the school _I didn't lash out at her though, and that place was probably more dangerous than this…_

_What the hell is wrong with me?_

The Cocona seemed a little hesitant, before I held out my arm, and reassured her she could take it this time and I wouldn't attack. _Can she talk?_ I wondered _She's not speaking, she's just sort of… here. Here… Koko ni… Cocona… Coco-ni_

Coconi placed her hand over mine, and my heart leapt in my chest. It was so soft… I felt like she should have a better grip than this, but she didn't need one. It was probably a bad idea to trust a creation in Pure Illusion, but I found myself unable to resist. Coconi only needed the lightest of touches to guide me, and I obeyed.

We stood there for a while, waiting for one of the sharks to come close enough. Eventually one did, and Coconi gently pushed my hand into the pool. The water was warmer than I expected. A shark swam past, and when its eye had passed my hand, Coconi gently pushed my fingers closer to it. _It's so smooth!_

I turned to her, with probably the biggest smile that had ever graced my face, only to see she was gone. The smile died on my lips. _I couldn't even thank her…_

Knowing Pure Illusion, I doubted I'd encounter Coconi again, which was a shame, as although I knew her for only a short while, she seemed nice…

_But she wasn't_ my _Cocona…_

I left the shark petting pool and walked back the way I came until got near the entrance again. I was about to leave, when I saw a dark shy and moonlight through the glass doors.

"Well, I guess I should stay here overnight…" I said, thinking out loud. There was a gift shop not too far away that I headed to next. There were tables of plushies of all sorts of sea creatures, in addition to notebooks, pens, pencils, mugs, t-shirts… A lot of things actually. Part of me wanted to have a look around, and another part of me thought it was dumb, and that I should just get some sleep.

I clambered onto one of the tables that contained plushies and moved a number of them to the side, before moving a large whale under my head to use as a pillow as I lay down. Although it was childish, I really did want to have a look around the gift shop at some point. Being with Asclepius, I hardly ever got the chance to go shopping, and the only times managed that, were when I was undercover… with Cocona.

Now I think about it I don't remember too much of my life before Asclepius got me from the orphanage and before I had Toto and Yuyu as constant company. All those times I just wanted to be left alone, or be with Cocona, just forget the world for a little while... This was basically everything I'd always wanted… would I say my wish had been granted though?

I wasn't sure.

Turning on my side, and grabbing a nearby dolphin plushie, my mind started to cloud and my body feel heavy. Drifting into sleep, I had one last thought. _I need to find Toto and Yuyu…_

At first, I wasn't sure if I was dreaming, or if I was awake and Pure Illusion had changed as I slept. This wasn't the first time I'd had to stay overnight in worlds in Pure Illusion, heck, I even did that recently with Toto and Yuyu at the school, but I mean before that. Sleeping beneath a warm orange sky, in a jungle of shining metal leaves was probably one of the more memorable times…

But still, when I was aware of things next, I was standing alone in a dark room, with only a single mirror in it. The room was completely enclosed, no windows, no doors… The walls were smooth, no sign of damage that I could see, same for the floor. Wary, I looked around, double checking for any possible signs of traps before approaching the mirror in the middle of the room. As I approached my reflection got closer to me…

And then it flickered, like something had gone wrong with a television's signal, and in the distortion appeared a familiar blue-haired girl… although the reflection kept one thing from me: my purple eyes were looking back into a matching set.

I moved my arm to see if the Mirror-Cocona copied me, and she did, although… there was something off about the way she moved. Like of you were watching a video but there were frames missing. She moved at exactly the same time as me, but as I wiggled my fingers to watch her… It was a bit like I was watching a slightly stilted stop-motion animation, or that the mirror was playing back a live recording, but skipped recording every other frame…

Basically: I didn't like that mirror.

And I had good reason to.

"Are you done playing?" she barked at me. I leapt backwards, surprised. Mirror-Cocona didn't copy me that time. She looked at me with her arms folded, foot tapping in annoyance, with a frown on her face.

I've seen Cocona angry before a few times, but she _never_ acted like this before. This was completely new.

"Yeah… I'm done… Sorry" Her anger seemed to be contagious, I ended up glaring back at her, my eyes never leaving the mirror's.

"You're not done" Mirror-Cocona said "You still have work to do, don't you? Like, take the amorphous? Or are you going to run away, like the coward you are?"

Growling, I replied "I ain't running" _geez, this one's petulant._ I was getting awfully tempted to smash that stupid mirror right then, but for some reason I let it keep talking.

"Oh, but you are. I don't see Toto and Yuyu here, do you? You were separated. You _abandoned_ them."

"I haven't done anything!" I yelled.

"Exactly" the mirror sneered "You've been playing with the dear girl of your dreams in Pure Illusion, instead of doing your mission to help conquer the world… But you don't have the heart to conquer the world, because you gave it to her."

_Heart… kokoro… Cocona… Cocoro._

My mouth was a tight line and I looked away from Cocoro. I could still feel her purple eyes boring into mine. She wasn't gonna let me go that easy.

"You know you love her. She's the most precious person on the planet to you, is she not? But you can't tell her. And now it's too late for anything to change…"

My hands had begun shaking at that point. Cocoro's taunting was getting to me, more than I'd like to admit.

"You need to choose, Yayaka." Cocoro said, pressing her hand to her side of the glass, "If you stay in this world, if you choose to run away and live here… the real world will become just as empty. Asclepius won't give up; you know they won't. If you stay, you doom your world to their chaos. But if you leave here… you go back to working for the organisation you've come to hate, and you can't run…

"You're stuck… no matter what you choose, nothing can save you…" With that, Cocoro faded, and when I turned back to the mirror, I was looking back at my own face…

My eyes opened and I saw myself surrounded by fuzzy colourful lumps. It took a second for me to register where I was exactly, _the aquarium. I moved the plushies aside so I can sleep here…_

_So, it was a dream…_

…Or was it?

I've never dreamt while I slept in Pure Illusion before. Maybe it was an influence of this world…

"Gooooooood morning, Yayaka~"

I screamed and threw my arms up, the plush dolphin I'd been hugging to me, flying across the room. Frightened, I took deep breaths to calm myself and find the source of the voice.

"Rise and shine!" Cocohi said, greeting me cheerily. She wasn't wearing her apron any more (must have left it at the café) and she sat on the edge of the plushie table, holding a souvenir aquarium coffee mug in her hands. Her fingernails glistened with orange nail polish as she raised the mug to her lips to take a sip.

"Ah… That's good stuff…" she sighed with contentment, before handing the mug to me "You want some?"

_It could be poisoned. She could be the trap here, and she could be trying to kill me right now_. Although being suspicious could save my life sometimes, this didn't seem like a time I would need that mindset. _If she wanted to kill me, she would have poisoned me earlier._

Taking a sip, myself, I found the warm liquid oddly refreshing. Probably because it'd been a while since I'd drunk anything… My stomach rumbled, and I was about to ask Cocohi if she had any food, when she pulled out a plate of cream bread.

"It's your favourite, isn't it?"

Any thanks I attempted came out as a stuttering mumble as I accepted the offering and began to eat.

"So, what are you going to do today?" she asked. She crossed her legs, and in doing so, managed to kick a small whale plushie along the floor.

"N-nothing."

"Oh… Have you not decided?"

"…Not really thought about it…"

"Do you want to spend time with me?"

I was kinda surprised by the offer, and I felt my cheeks go a little red. _Did I want to spend time with Cocohi?_ I didn't know. The offer was nice, and I definitely wouldn't mind hanging out with her, but… I couldn't… Toto and Yuyu were still out there somewhere. I don't know if they needed me, but I didn't feel right just leaving them. This was my first time in Pure Illusion where I've wandered around without them and… it didn't feel right to me.

I turned to Cocohi to decline her offer, but she'd disappeared. The coffee in the mug rippled slightly as if it'd just been put down. _This is probably gonna keep happening… I'm fine with that._

_I need to find Toto and Yuyu in this world though…_

The sun had just started to rise when I went outside, the dark blue of night, fading into a gentle yellow dawn. I clicked the button on my headgear to activate my visor, to see if I could track the twins. My vision went dark was my eyes were covered by the sheet of glass, hoping that I'd be able to track them down with a signal from that, if nothing else. Nothing showed up on my screen, no matter which way I turned my head. _Is this world interfering somehow? Am I out of range? ...or was I_ truly _separated from the twins and landed in a different world to them entirely?_

_...Can I get out?_

_What if I'm trapped here forever?_

I let out a short roar of frustration and started running. If the birdsong belonged to anything living, it wasn't bothered by my sudden outburst. No wings fluttered up from the trees, the sky wasn't blotted out in a cloud of birds...

There truly was no living creature here.

Ducking through alleyways, I tried to find _some_ source of life here that wasn't myself, or any illusionary Cocona's. Taking all the routes I never took, I dashed, checking, searching... _I can't be alone here... I can't!_

Eventually I had to stop and catch my breath. Puffing heavily, hands on my knees, I began to feel lost.

_You can't get to Pure Illusion alone... would the same apply if I wanted to get_ out _of Pure Illusion?_

I really hoped so, because at this rate, I'd be trapped here forever. _Would that be such a bad thing?_ _... Would I be happy with this?_

I wanted nothing more than to slump down at that moment. Just sit, with my back against the wall behind me, and wallow in my own hopelessness... All I wanted to do give up. _I'm stuck... Asclepius will win, no matter what I do. They'll take the amorphous, and they'll take Cocona... they'll take over the world and make their own messed up vision of it... And I would have helped them do it._ I slammed a fist down onto a nearby trash can, and screamed.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" I was certain I wouldn't get an answer. My bangs fell from the ribbon they were tied up in, and covered my eyes. A stray tear worked itself down my cheek, and I coughed. Hunching over the trash can, I cried. It was loud, and it was ugly...

And I was being watched.

At first, I thought the whistle I heard was just my imagination, or maybe I'd triggered some more false birdsong somehow, but when I heard it again, I recognised it... or rather, I recognised the owner of the voice.

Can't say I've ever heard Cocona whistle until now. It was short, just a couple of sharp notes, as if she was trying to call a dog. Not really how I'd expect her to call me, but it got my attention. I wiped my eyes, and turned to her.

"The hell are you looking at?" I said. As defeated as I felt at the moment, the sight of this new Cocona... something about her made things feel a little easier. The sight of her wearing a soft lavender kimono, decorated with intricately stitched yellow flowers, with a hand of welcome reaching out for me...

I saw hope.

"...sorry. Just had a hard time lately..." I didn't really know why I was telling her this, I was pretty sure this wasn't the real Cocona, I guess I just wanted someone to listen to me, so I could get some things out of my system. I clicked my visor off so I could see better.

"It's no worries, Yayaka-chan!" She chirped at me. _Did... Did she just '-chan' me?_ This... was new. In all the time we've known each other... I've never once had an honourific at the end of my name.

_Coco-chan._

I walked over, and put my gloved hand in hers. She gave me a smile that would have lit up the alleyway, if the sun hadn't already climbed high enough in the sky to do so, and gently tugged me along behind her.

My mouth dropped when we stepped out into the main street. Paper lanterns were strung up over endless market stalls. I felt like someone had plucked a rainbow from the sky and draped it over the street, looking at everything in front of me. There were no people beyond me and Coco-chan here, and it was broad daylight, so the lanterns wouldn't have been lit anyway, but... Wow, this place was pretty. I've heard about the odd festival happening a couple of towns over, but I never actually went to them. I was invited, sure, but... Asclepius had other ideas for me, in the form of taking blood samples and trying to measure my brainwaves, working out how I could go into Pure Illusion, and using it to help... 'upgrade' the twins...

this was my first festival. And it was beautiful.

_I wish Toto and Yuyu were here to see this._

I mean, it was empty, but seeing all the banners flap around in the breeze, colours twirling and dancing all around... The smell of food was in the air too. No cream bread (I didn't think there'd be any here, but I could hope), but... Taiyaki, Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki... warm and tantalising...

Coco-chan kinda bounced from stall to stall looking at each item eagerly. She never took them, but she called me over to the next one, and the next... Before grabbing some bagged cotton candy and offering it to me.

"Here!" She said. Unsure how to react, I just smiled and took it from her, before she ran off and called my name again "Yaya-chan! This way!"

_Man, she's excitable... I wonder if I can get Cocona to call me that back in the real world?_ I found her nickname for me kinda cute. Not something I'd normally say, but...

"Yaya-chaaaannn!" She waved as she called me over to one of the larger market stalls. Curious to see what she wanted to show me, I approached.

Goldfish were swimming around in a pool just below me, orange slivers amongst the sparkling water. There were some small paper nets nearby, along with some plastic baggies.

"A goldfish scoop?" Cocona had told me about these places at festivals, they let you try and catch a fish with one of the nets, and if you were gentle enough and didn't break the net, you could keep the fish you caught as a pet. I was a little curious to try, but I wasn't sure it'd be a good idea. Even if I won one, there was no guarantee it would survive the trip back from Pure Illusion with me, and even then, I wouldn't put it past Asclepius to run some experiments on the poor creature, whether it made it back, alive or dead. I was worried that Coco-chan would insist I play with her and try and catch one, but she didn't say anything and was just watching them intently. I ended up doing the same, quickly becoming mesmerised.

Now I think about it, it's kinda funny. The place that was full of all sorts of sea life, and I barely looked at anything that wasn't the sharks, and here I was watching something you'd find in any pet store. _Why are there fish here though if there's no other signs of life beyond the fake Coconas…? Was this a hint? Should I head to somewhere with water if I wanted to get out of here?_

Coco-chan's whistle broke into my thoughts and she waved me over to another festival stall. Things went on like that for quite a while, it got a little repetitive, but I didn't mind. The lack of people was a bit weird, but at the same time, it was nice to just hang out and spend some time with just one other person, rather than being under supervision almost all of the time. We tried some of the various food available (how it was all there, cooked and ready to be eaten, I don't know, maybe Cocohi had something to do with it…

_Find the twins._ I shook my head where I was standing, as Coco-chan was admiring a bunch of masks on display. She took a _Kitsune_ one from the display, put it on, and turned to me. The sight was adorable and I smiled, but as much as I would have quite happily hung out with her, I really needed to get going. As I opened my mouth to tell her that, she grabbed another mask from the stall, a goofy-looking _Oni_ and held it out to me. I was about to take it from her, when I heard a beep from my headgear. Clicking my visor back on, I almost let out a shout of excitement when I just about managed to catch a yellow blip on the screen. Without a second thought, or even a goodbye to Coco-chan I ran off in that direction.

_I don't know if it's the twins or the real Cocona, but there's someone else in this world, and I'm going to find them!_

If nothing else I felt like my agility was getting better from all the running around in this world. I mean, I was always pretty fast, but was getting more used to dodging all sorts of obstacles I encountered too, which could only help as time went on. There was still no way to know what I was running in to here, but if it was hostile, then I probably had a better chance against it than I did when I first got here…

Saying that, when I got roughly to the place I saw the blip on my visor, I was standing out in the open in a grassy field… I don't think it was too far from when I originally arrived here actually… Yeah… It wasn't, there's the statue of the thinking man again…

_Damn it._

Disheartened, I sat down. There could well have been someone else here, and I was just giving up too fast, but being back here, all I could think about was the conversation I overheard Cocona and Papika having when they returned from Pure Illusion.

_You were meant to travel with me, Cocona. You were meant to be my friend…_ Much like my thoughts, in all the time I've been here I probably just run around in a huge circle and found my way back here again.

_Wait, when they were here, some vacuum thingy that came out from under the statue spat them out around here. If there was one in this world, would there be a Hole that could take me back home?_

… _Do I really want to go home?_

The longer I'd been here on my own, the more I felt like I wanted to go back, but the more I thought about going back, the more I thought about how I'd just be nothing more than an experiment helping a bunch of cultists take over the world…

Flopping onto my back, arms splayed out, I lay on the grass and looked up at the sky. A few clouds were making their way overhead. None of them made a shape beyond 'vague blob' but it was easy to try and clear my mind here.

_Here, I have many different Cocona's for company, or they keep managing to find me at least. I have food, and water, and freedom… and I sentence the real world to conquest._

_Back home… I have Asclepius, who couldn't care less about me beyond the fact I'm their key to Pure Illusion… But I also have Toto and Yuyu… They're not exactly like normal humans, but they shouldn't have to be stuck with Asclepius any more than me…_

_And then there's the real Cocona…_

I closed my eyes. All the Cocona's I'd run into here, although most of them shared the same hair colour and the same eyes, there were still things that made them different from the Cocona I knew. Whether it was Cocohi's wavy hair, Coconi's silence, Cocoro's taunts, or Coco-chan's excitement… They were close to the real thing. Close… but not close enough.

I felt more than heard another presence lay down near me. I let out a heavy sigh and began to think out loud.

"I'm completely lost… No matter what I choose, I'm going to be stuck with some horrible situation, and there's no way out."

"Are you sure about that?" came the voice I was expecting to hear. _Another Cocona…_

"I'm pretty sure. If I stay here, and leave everything behind, I'll have almost everything I ever wanted. Sounds like a good deal, right?" I opened my eyes then, although I didn't want to turn to face the latest arrival to the area. Something told me if I looked at her she'd disappear.

"So, what's stopping you from doing that?" Her voice rustled like a gentle breeze brushing past tree leaves. She was curious, rather than mad, convinced I wanted nothing more than to leave right that second.

"You mean, beyond the fact I can't find a Hole out of here? I got separated from some… friends of mine." I stumbled over the word 'friends'. _Is that really how I think of the twins now? Can I call them that, after I ran in here, ready to abandon them?_ "Even if I did want out, I can't just leave them here. They need me to get back home."

"And yet, you keep stopping your searches for them."

"Yeah, well… what else can I do? I don't know where they are, and the only time I got a signal in this place, it just led me back to where I started, right here. Right where…" _I found out Cocona and Papika were a team now… Where I basically learnt that all I'd been working towards was basically futile. Where I'd have to try and see my best friend as my enemy…_ "Never mind. I don't want to think about it" I rolled onto my side then, looking through the strands of grass and twitched my fingers, like I did when I was trying to recover from travelling through worlds to Pure Illusion. "I'm just sick of all of this..."

There was a long pause. For a second I thought the Cocona that joined me, lying down on the grass, had left, but eventually, the wind-like voice spoke again.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"What do I want?" repeating what she'd said, a little surprised by the fact she'd asked me that. Heck, it was probably the first time anyone I'd ever spoken to had wondered what I wanted...

"Yes. If you could have anything, right now, what would it be?"

_That was a very good question..._ I knew what my answer was, but actually saying it out loud… I was trapped in another world, with no one to overhear me, but a Cocona that may well be part of my imagination (or it wouldn't surprise me if it _was_ just my own head playing tricks on me, I've been through so much lately, hallucinations were bound to be a side effect), I felt I wouldn't be judged if I spoke... even so, the words I wanted to say were so foreign to me, I spoke slowly, having to force them out.

"I just want... someone. Someone... I can be with. A companion... I want to travel with them... and show them here... Someone to... be at my side. To be there... for me." It felt really weird saying that out loud, saying them to another person, instead of them just cycling through my head over and over, but it felt good to finally say it. An invisible weight I hadn't realised was there felt like it was being lifted. "I want... someone... to be with... and freedom. I don't want to be part of Asclepius any more. Being a part of that..." I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, finding it easier to talk "I wasn't really aware of what I was a part of. Not until recently. Every solution I can think of would just end badly... No matter what I do, it feels like Asclepius will win, and I'll lose Cocona in the process."

"I'm right here, Yayaka."

_No... you're not. You're another fake Cocona. I don't even have a name for you... Nameless..._

The grass shifted around my head and I heard gentle footsteps brush along the ground... before seemingly lowering the rest of the body they were connected to next to me.

I nearly leapt out of my skin when I felt gentle arms wrap around my shoulders, pulling me up from the ground, and pulling me close, my cheek touching soft hair. My eyes opened instantly, and I realised I was looking over Nameless' shoulder and into the grassy field with the thinking man statue...

Or at least I thought I was looking over her shoulder. My eyes opened and... like I expected, she was gone.

And I was alone again.

* * *

_Authors note: Not sure if I mentioned last time, but this chapter is split in half again, so sorry if it ends suddenly! I wasn't really sure where to split this one, so I split it word-wise, so each chapter is approx 8k words (some people like long chapters, others find them a bit much, I tried to find a balance). Second half will be posted next week!_


	10. Episode 7 - Part 2

Something wet touched my face, and I looked up to see the sky was now a blanket of grey as more drips began to fall. _How long have I been here?_ The thinking man statue was slowly getting covered in dark spots of rain. My mind flew back to my time at the otherworldly school. I mean, I doubted this would have been acid rain, like it was in that world, but I'd rather not take my chances.

The birdsong had finally stopped, the sound of rainfall drowning everything out... It felt like it was echoing everywhere, echoes upon echoes, getting impossibly loud. This world that was almost silent before was now full of noise, like someone had just turned the speakers on a device from the lowest volume to the highest.

And it was all around. No escape.

I had no items in my weapon belt that would help me with this. My collapsible water bottle was basically useless here, I had no need to collect rain water when in this identical world I could just go to almost any street corner and get a drink... Cursing myself for not thinking to bring earplugs with me (all the things I've encountered in Pure Illusion, you'd think I'd be prepared for anything) I ran around, trying to find shelter.

You might wonder why I struggled, when I was clearly on the school grounds, so surely something would be nearby, right? Well yeah, you _would_ be correct in thinking that, but this rain... I was constantly blinking, trying to keep it out of my eyes, and when I clicked my visor on it was pretty much just covered in water drops that'd just distort my vision...

Although, there was another yellow blip on them...

I had to throw my hands out in front of me as I walked around, desperately trying to navigate where I was. The green wire-frame feature that helped in the last world I went to with Toto and Yuyu was basically useless here, not just because the rain made it so I could hardly see anything, but I could barely focus to make out shapes at all because of all the noise.

That little yellow blip was all I had to go on.

I bumped into something that seemed like it'd be in front of train tracks to stop people walking across when a train was arriving, and found myself under some bushes for shelter. It was quieter here. Not much, but enough that I could stop and think for a second.

I clicked my rain-soaked visor off and wasn't surprised to see I had company again. Another Cocona, but... her hair was long, _really_ long. And wild, like it was hardly ever brushed. Her eyes seemed bigger than normal too, wider, more curious... although she wouldn't stop staring at me, and that was a bit unsettling.

"Hollo!" Came her enthusiastic greeting, which was loud, I'd figure because of the sheer sound of the rain around us, she'd have to be, but at the same time, that one word almost gave me a headache.

"Quiet down, will you?" I yelled at her. _Wait a second..._ I've seen that kind of look before. And that level of excitement... I thought of a girl I knew who acted like a lost puppy... of someone who bounced along the classroom calling Cocona's name while wearing a pink dress that wouldn't be amiss on a music idol...

Oh no.

"I found you!" At any other moment I would have found that smile on Cocona's face endearing, but instead it filled me with dread. The air she gave off made me feel like I was standing in front of a fairy from a storybook... and I've only ever used that description to describe one other person before.

_Oh no... Please, no._

"Yayaka?" she sounded like a sad child, when I didn't respond to her.

_For the love of cream bread..._ It was bad enough knowing the pink-haired idiot... Here in front of me was a combination of my favourite person in the world, and my least favourite person. Everything I loved and hated, all rolled into one. Part of me wanted to run away as fast as I could, and the other wanted to just sit and stay here forever.

"My brain hurts..." I said, closing my eyes and pinching my nose, feeling like I was getting a migraine. _A Papika-Cocona? This can't be real. Has the rain stopped? Please tell me the rain has stopped._ My ears told me otherwise. The rain was a constant barrage outside, and it didn't sound like it was going to let up any time soon.

Cocoka's breathing sounded closer to me than it should have been. I opened my eyes to see she'd leaned in closer to me, her face barely inches from mine.

"Geez! Don't do that!" I shoved her away, my hand on her forehead, her scruffy bangs tickling the back of it.

"Your face is red! Are you sick?" Her speech pattern reminded me of the twins', quick sentences, but she was a lot more emotional than them… Okay, that's not a difficult thing to do, but still.

"I'm fine," I said, looking away from her. _I'm not finding this cute; I'm finding this annoying… So, what if her eyes are bigger and she has longer hair? It's basically Papika in Cocona's body, and I don't like Papika!_ Or at least, that's what I tried to tell my face, and my heart, but neither would listen. _Why am I finding all these Cocona's so-_

A bang like a gunshot rang in the air, and I took my hand away from Cocoka's forehead.

"What the hell was that?"

"Papika!"

"Papika's here?" I don't know why this surprised me, maybe because she sounded like she was pretty close but... "What is she doing?"

"Building a rocket ship!" Cocoka said this, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. All I could do was sit and stare. Cocoka's face fell "Papika said she didn't want to play with me... She said she was looking for Cocona, but I'm right here!"

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am! I'm talking to you! I'm real! I'm as real as you!"

_That's not what I meant... Wait, Papika could see this Cocona too… Does… Does she like Cocona in that way too?_

_And if those two are separated and just as lost as I am… then who is Cocona seeing in this world?_

_And what about the twins?_

At that point I clicked my visor on again, (ignoring Cocoka's making noises of surprise and wonder) to see if I could pick up the signal now, I was somewhere reasonably dry (I say reasonably, because there was still the odd drop of rain making it through the roof of leaves). It was pretty hard to see anything around me, with the screen making me see everything as if it was bathed in shadows, but the yellow blip was still there. Turning my head, it seemed like it was pointing me in the direction Papika was.

"Damn…"

"What's that?!" Cocoka asked enthusiastically "You had it earlier, and then you made it go away, and now it's back!"

"Shut up" I snarled at her. _How does Cocona put up with this?_ Cocoka, thankfully, obeyed me, and we both ended up watching the rain fall either side of us…

I must have fallen asleep at some point, I was warmer and cosier than I remember being not too long ago. My eyes opened and I looked out to see green grass shining with jewel-like water drops. The sun was out again. I don't know if I ended up sleeping through the night, it was getting pretty late in the day when the rain started… Everything still looked kinda dark to me… Apparently, I didn't even turn my visor off before I nodded off… I pressed the button on my head gear, turned my head and realised why I was so warm.

A puff of long blue hair (along with the rest of Cocoka's head) rested on my shoulder. I was about to push her away when… looking at her sleeping face, I found myself unable to. She looked peaceful while she was sleeping, and she had a tiny grin on her face. I didn't have the heart to shove her aside, or move away from her. Not yet at least. Although she was annoying, and she definitely wasn't my Cocona, while she was asleep… she was pretty cute.

That was until I felt something shift around my back and I jolted with alarm. It turned out it was just her arms, which she'd managed to snake around me at some point. Relaxing when I worked out what it was, as I sat there, with her head on my shoulder… I felt like I was protected. If a monster came and attacked us, I didn't doubt for a second that Cocoka would charge off into battle to keep me safe. _Is this how Papika makes Cocona feel?_ I think I was beginning to understand a little as to why Cocona liked her…

Until Cocoka, yawned, took her arms away, stretched (punching me in the face in the process) and began to talk again.

"Ahhh… That was a nice nap!" She stopped and looked around for a second before announcing "Hey! The rain stopped!"

_Good. Now I can finally leave._ Her voice made me mad. She might have looked like a long-haired Cocona, but her voice really didn't sit well with my ears. Whenever she spoke, I just wanted her to shut up. It was Cocona's voice, but hearing her talk like the pink-haired idiot… All I could think about was how Papika had taken Cocona from me. Cocoka was a combination of the two, and I felt like I was being taunted just by her presence. _Look at her. Listen to her. It's everything you want, and can never have. Everything you will_ never _have…_

I ran away, hot tears in my eyes. Cocoka called my name, trying to summon me back to her, but it just made me run faster. This isn't where I belong. I can't stay here, not if _she's_ going to be here. Running from Asclepius wasn't going to be my answer. It wouldn't solve anything. Sure, I'd get to hang around with a ton of Cocona's, I'd get to see them every day, but they're not _my_ Cocona.

I dashed past the school, trying to get as far away from Cocoka as fast as I could and wove my way through town, the detached birdsong still accompanying me as I travelled. Where was I going? I wasn't really sure. Although I was treading familiar paths and had been down these streets so many times before… I was running through a ghost town. _Is this what the world will be like if Asclepius took over? This… empty?_ I know Cocoro told me that would be the case, but it never really hit me until now.

I didn't think I was heading in a particular direction at all, but at the mention of Cocoro, my body suddenly changed where it was going. Whether this was some weird Pure Illusion magic, or my subconscious trying to tell me something, I'm not sure… all I know is that when I stopped moving, I found myself at from Asclepius' base.

I'm in this part of Pure Illusion because I wanted to run away from them… and here I am, standing in front of an exact replica of the very place I wanted nothing more to do with.

"FINE!" I bellowed "I'M NOT RUNNING FROM YOU ANY MORE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"

I knew I would get no reply, but yelling felt good. "SCREW YOUR CRAPPY LIFE-RUINING ORGANISATION, YOU CAN ALL ROT IN HELL!" _There has to be a way out of this. Asclepius need to be stopped somehow... if I stay here, Asclepius can't do anything to me…_

_...but they can still get to Cocona. They know where she is. If I run away, they'll just take her by force, or they'll find some other innocent person and force them into this._

I turned my back on the building ready to leave, when something in the distance caught my eye.

The sun shone off a sheet of water, and I felt drawn to it. _The fish… There fish are still in this world, even if the people aren't…_ Taking a few steps, I walked down to the lake near Asclepius' base. I knew it was here, but I've never really come this way before. White flowers were dotted along the grassy banks of the water. I looked down, and sure enough, there were fish in there.

"Why are there always fish? The lake… Is this the answer?" I knelt down to get a better look. I couldn't see too far into the deep green depths of the pool. The harder I looked, the more it seemed to distort before my eyes, my hair isn't blue…

_Blue hair?_

I whipped around, trying to get a look over my shoulder. No one there. _Then… is that…?_

I turned back to the lake and waved my arm at the blue-haired reflection. It changed further as it mirrored me, moving as if every other frame was missing. _Cocoro?_

" _Have you found your answer, yet?"_ I could see her mouth moving in the reflection of the water, but I heard her voice in my head.

"Not yet, but I think I'm close," I said to Cocoro. I wasn't sure if I needed to speak to her in my hear or out loud, but she reacted to my voice, so I guess it didn't matter.

" _Hmph"_ she said folding her arms. I blinked and then she was gone, and I was looking back into my own purple eyes. _My mind has been torn between Asclepius and Cocona the whole time I'm here. I'm not running from Asclepius any more, I can't let them get Cocona. She's been my best friend, and the only good thing in my life for a long time… If I can't keep her as far away from this situation as possible, the least I can do is keep her safe._

Something in my mind just clicked into place.

_If Cocona and Papika can defeat Asclepius…_ That was the only way I could think this whole situation would be resolved in the best way possible. _If the Flip Flappers can stop them…_ All my overthinking made, what was probably the most obvious solution, impossible for me to reach in the first place, but I didn't care. _They can stop Asclepius, and I won't have to work for them anymore, me and the twins will be free, and the world will be saved!_

_I'll have to stay with Asclepius as long as it takes… but it can be done. There's a way out._

"I can do this… Just a little longer, but I can do this" I felt energised upon this revelation. Heck, it was probably me being driven partially insane by being here so long, but I was so happy that there was a way out of this situation, I punched the air, and yelled.

"I CAN DO THIS!"

"Do what?"

My heart stopped.

_That wasn't Cocona's voice…_

I turned around... And standing there behind me was a sight for sore eyes.

"Yuyu!" I cried. Maybe it was because I was so elated from my earlier discovery, but I've never felt better to see a familiar face, even if it was as blank as slate. Her red eyes, silver hair and that massive metal gauntlet on her arm... Man, it was nice to see someone that wasn't a fake Cocona!

"What're you doing out here?" _No, that's not what I should be asking_ "Nevermind that, where's Toto?"

"Seperated" The word had about as much emotion to it as a rock, but somehow, it was nicer than any Cocona in this world that I'd heard...

Until it sunk in what she said.

"Wait, seperated? But I remember seeing you two in the void together..." _Unless this world just seperates people by default. Cocoka said Papika was looking for Cocona..._

"I take it you're searching for him right now?"

Yuyu nodded.

"In that case, why don't we search together?" _I don't think there's anything lethal in this world, but I guess at least if I_ did _run into anything, at least now I'd have backup..._

Walking away from the lake with Yuyu, I felt more at ease than I had at any other time in this world (maybe apart from when Cocoka hugged me in her sleep), but her presence was reassuring. Phantom birdsong seemed a lot less creepy when I had someone to walk with.

This felt... different, compared to my time with all the Cocona's. Even though Coco-chan had practically dragged me down a street stuffed with market stalls, that was probably the most I'd ever really explored this place with someone else. It probably should have unsetteled me, the fact this place was still _so empty_ and everything amplified because of it, but having another person, and hearing their footsteps next to me as we walked... it was so darn nice after everything else I didn't care...

Now if only we could find Toto...

"Any idea where he could have gotten to?" I asked Yuyu.

It was a little while before she turned to face this world's Asclepius headquarters. _Not a place I really wanted to search, but it makes sense... And it'll be easier with Yuyu at my side._

Entering the research facility and being greeted with wide hallways devoid of the usual scientists and cultists... I didn't know whether to feel glad about that or not, I mean, there was no way in hell I'd get called in for any experiments here, no needles, no robot-humans following their programming... however, seeing this place, normally so full of life an energy like this... _It's them or the rest of the world. It'd be best if this place was empty._ They might have been the ones to take me from the orphanage, but looking at a thousand scattered research papers that drifted through the corridors, similar to ones I'd seen many times before, recording results of my blood tests and side-effects of Pure Illusion... sometimes I wondered if I might have been better off if Asclepius never took me from there at all.

Yuyu took a few steps in, not hesitating. It took a little while for my to gather my courage enough to take a few more steps into the building. I know it was stupid, there was no way Asclepius could know I was planning to try and help Cocona and Papika, I'd only made my mind up about that a few minutes ago, and I haven't said a single thing out loud, but being here... I felt a lot more out of place here than I usually did...

We had a peek through the doors of most of the rooms we passed by, but we didn't see any sign of him. Plenty of medical equipment, machinery, blinking lights, glass beakers and various instruments for surgical operations (things I shuddered thinking about, let alone look at), but no sign of Toto. I didn't really like walking around here too much. Yuyu didn't seem bothered in the slightest, slamming doors open (an action that'd have her tranqualised at best and tortured/killed at worst in the real world) and scanning quickly before walking off and dismissing the room (and any destruction she caused), moving swiftly onto the next. I was a little slower, more hesitant to open the doors. I don't know if the cameras in this world were hooked up to anything, but if there was some sort of evil mastermind hidden away in the mad cultist's base, I'd rather not find out.

The silence, periodically broken by Yuyu deciding a door didn't need to be on its hinges that bad, was starting to drive me nuts... Even though I watched as she did it, and was expecting the sudden 'CRASH' every time, it still made me jump. _I do_ not _wanna get on her bad side..._ Beyond that though, watching her do all of this, I wondered if I'd have a potential ally if I turned my back on Asclepius. Yuyu didn't really look like she was enjoying smashing every door to spliters and scrap metal, and showed no signs of happiness otherwise at destroying this false Asclepius' base... My thoughts twisted at that point. She's shown emotion before, slight, but it was still there... Looking at her now, she seemed more like a robot than a human...

And that was when we stumbled across one room I'd never seen before.

Steam billowed from Yuyu's metal fist, seemingly having used a stronger attack to take down this particularly stubborn door, I wondered what secrets it could possibly contain...

...A piano, and double bass.

"What the hell is this?" I couldn't keep my surprise contained. Not giving me an answer, Yuyu stepped into the room. It was completely white, the floors, the ceiling, the walls... it was kinda disorienting, the room was pretty big, but _how_ big exactly I'd struggle to tell you.

It was kinda ridiculous, as literally the only things in here were those two instruments.

Stepping over to the Piano, Yuyu lifted her bare arm and brushed her fingers lightly against the keys before pressing down on one. The note echoed in the room before softly fading out.

"Toto plays piano" Yuyu said. This new information astounded me... but triggered a memory of our time in the school. _The music books she looked at..._

"You wanna play piano with him some day?" I asked, curious. She nodded in response. A gentle smile managed to work its way onto my face. I put my hand on her bare arm's shoulder as I said encouraging words to her. "I'm sure you can do it. You just need to learn, and practice."

There was a pause before she looked down at her gauntlet. Raising that arm, she tried to carefully press a key with one of the fingers and ended up pressing three at once. While not entirely discordant, the sound emited from the piano didn't sound too happy. Neither did Yuyu, who was looking at her gauntleted arm, red eyes filled with hate, she spat the word "Defective..."

_Oh... right. Bad arm..._

Quiet filled the room for a little while after that. I had no idea what I could say to help Yuyu feel better, I don't know if mentioning the fact maybe Asclepius could work something out, give her a fake robotic arm that could help her play, but there's no way in hell Asclepius would do such a thing if it didn't serve some combat purpose.

We stood like that for probably a few minutes, before I figured I should get moving, and try and encourage Yuyu to do the same. "Let's go, we should still find Toto," I said, turning my back on the room. Hesitant, Yuyu followed me. She looked back a couple of times at the piano in the room, her face holding the tiniest hint of disappointment.

It wasn't long before she was busting down doors again, although this time she used a lot more force behind each strike. Eventually we came to the lab Toto and Yuyu were created in. It would have made sense for him to be here, and we probably should have made our way right here in the first place, but there was no telling if he was hiding out in any of the other rooms either. Best to cover all bases I guess.

I clicked my visor on to see if that would give us any more information, only to get rid of it a couple of seconds later, as nothing showed up on the screen. Although it was probably accurate and Toto wasn't in the building at all, it was still best to search everywhere we could in case. Maybe it didn't like scanning stuff within the building...

The search continued for a while. We'd eventually checked every single room in the building... All but one.

"I wanna search this place alone" I told Yuyu, looking at the entrance to my room. _How accurate a replica is this place?_ Despite my anxiety about being back in here, regardless of population, my curiousity as to how my room looked in this world got the better of me. Putting my hand on the door handle, I looked back at Yuyu. She nodded at me, confirming she'd stay put while I investigated.

CLICK! The door loudly, slowly creaked open. I quickly ducked inside, feeling like I'd just set an alarm ringing through the building, when in reality all I did was turn a door handle. It was clear Toto wasn't here either, I probably should have left and gotten moving, so me and Yuyu could continue our hunt for the missing member of our party, but taking a look around my room...

It was basically identical to the one back home. Approaching my bookshelf, I even saw the silver leaf and the Cocona-rock from other worlds were here too...

And that was when I noticed one of my books wasn't there. The one that I'd hidden the 'dragon egg' necklace in... _Now why was that missing...?_

Something about that made me feel more uneasy than I already was. I didn't really want to hang around too much longer to find more disturbances in my room. _Find Toto, get out of here, save the world._

Meeting Yuyu in the corridor again, I reported that Toto wasn't in there. She didn't even bother nodding, she just walked back to the entrance of the building. _I know she's not exactly normal, but... she seems worried._ I guess taking out all the doors on the way here was just a way to try and work it out of her system... Not that I could blame her, sometimes I wish I had her gauntlet. There's a number of things I'd quite gladly punch, starting with either the head priest, or a certain pink-haired-idiot...

Stepping back out into the sunlight... It took some adjusting to. I hadn't quite realised how dark it was inside the Asclepius building, beyond the few white rooms. Leaves rattled with the breeze, a mirror of light flashing in the gaps between each other, the lake just beyond the barrier of trees.

_Why are there always fish...?_

"I got a theory. Come with me" I said. I wasn't really expecting Yuyu to follow my command, as we'd already been to the lake before, but this whole fish thing was getting irritating. There _had_ to be a meaning to it. It was important.

As we stepped up to the rippling water I glanced over to my left and was greeted by a sight that was simultaneously, the most welcoming, and frightening, thing I'd ever seen in Pure Illusion.

The good news was, Toto was right there, in plain sight, a tiny smile pulling at the side of his mouth in recognition, before the expression on his face mirrored mine when he realised the exact same thing I did.

Yuyu was standing next to him.

Yuyu was also standing behind me.

Doing a triple take, I tried to work out what the hell was going on here... This situation made no sense, and also perfect sense.

_Toto and Yuyu were seperated from me at the start of the adventure. In the time I've been away from them, I've run into many different Cocona's, and even came close to encountering Papika... Papika could see Cocoka, as in this world, it appears like we see who we want to see._

_Toto and Yuyu were together all along._

_They were never apart. The whole time, the twins were together._

_Or were they...?_

"Toto, with me!" I gestured him over to me. Clearly as startled as I was at this revelation, he stood at my side, his eyepiece flashing to life, ready to target whichever of the two Yuyu's was the enemy. It was clear one of them was... _How do I know Toto isn't, though?_

"Toto, good aiming with those rockets. You really saved me back there. Thanks." I know I messed up my line, I couldn't remember the exact words I'd said to him after the desert world, but I was hoping it was enough to trigger the response I expected. _As long as he caught on, anyway._

"Unusual... Are you Yayaka?" He replied, in a joking tone of voice. Turning to him, I saw him with a smirk for a split second, before his red eyes turned back to watching the two Yuyu's. _Good. That's definitely Toto._ Taking a leaf from his book, I turned my attention back to the identical Yuyu's standing in front of us. _One of them has to be fake._ Maybe Yuyu and Toto _did_ split up, or find themselves away from the other when they woke up, just like I did, and maybe I'd run into the genuine Yuyu, whereas Toto got stuck with a fake...

"Toto, you picking anything up? any different life signatures or anything, to determine who's who?"

"Identical readings"

_Man, this is confusing._

One of them definitely wasn't real though. But, how to determine the false one? The two Yuyu's didn't try and convince us they were real. That wasn't an action Yuyu would take. Instead, both kept looking between each other, and the team of me and Toto. Neither of their fists were raised, ready to attack...

_Fists… can they raise their arms? …No, I couldn't ask that, there was no guarantee that one of them wouldn't attack the other at the opportunity. I mean, if that_ did _happen, we could probably find out who the bad guy was, but I don't wanna risk Yuyu's life for that. Even then, they're both armed with gauntlets, raising the supposed bad arm wouldn't do any good._

_What else is there?_

I tried to think over any conversations I'd had with Yuyu, see if I could get her to answer in a way that revealed who she was... _Music? No, there's no way I can access that here, not without moving..._ Desperately, I tried to think through everything that's happened when I was around Yuyu. _The Iron Boys catcalled us, could I try that? No, that would probably get me killed if I got a reaction._ I put a hand to my head. _Sewing? Maybe, but there's no needles nearby... Think, Yayaka, think!_ My hand brushed through my blonde strands of-

_HAIR!_

As quickly as I could, I undid the ribbon that kept my bangs out of my face, and got to work. Tying a braid at the side of your head is really damn hard when you're in a panic. _But if I'm right, this is the easiest way to determine who's the real Yuyu..._ I wish I had a second ribbon so I could replicate my hairstyle to the twin braids I had back at the yuri hell-school, but this was as close as I could get considering the circumstances.

"Yuyu, what do you think of my hair?" My words came out stilted, as I'd just asked a question I'd never care to ask in any other situation. My heart was pounding like crazy, _please, for the love of cream bread, answer this, I've got no other ideas._

"It's hair" came the answer from the Yuyu I'd been travelling with.

"...pretty" was the response of the Yuyu that was with Toto the entire time, her red eyes looking away, shyly.

_GOTCHA!_

Aiming my weapons at the Yuyu I'd been travelling with (I'm just gonna call her Yuya, frag knows she needs a name that isn't 'other Yuyu'), and Toto copied me, without question. _Yeah, definitely Toto. He was never around when that conversation happened, but he trusts me..._ The thought would have made me smile if Yuya hadn't instantly launched herself at Yuyu. The action was so fast, it was pretty much impossible for me to track with my eyes. I blinked and next thing I knew, the two of them were trying to punch each other into the lake. By the time I had my rockets ready to shoot, Toto had already let out a barrage, the sudden movements not a problem for the guy who was literally made to process hundreds of things at once.

BOOM!

Dozens of missiles made impact with the ground. Shockwaves and a spray of mud erupted in front of us, ripping the land apart. _Man those things are powerful!_ Taking cover, I ducked down and got my visor up, trying not to get splattered.

Beep beep!

Unable to see past the shower of mud, my visor gave me a slight hint as to what was happening. The only thing that appeared on it was a bright white glow, that kept darting around frantically above green wire-frame that represented the land around the lake, and the water itself. I didn't have to wonder for too long what that could have meant, as it split into two yellows dots, one of which fell into the lake. _So, they were fighting, and one of them was successful..._

_But who won?_

Suddenly, there was a sharp chill in the air, as a cold wind whipped past me. The falling mud froze in the air, and icy shards shot down to the ground, allowing me to see what had just happened exactly.

Like me, Toto had tried to take cover, kneeling down, and looking in the direction of the victor of the fight. Stupidly, I was about to ask him who won, as I was pretty sure Yuyu and Yuya had no physical differences between them, and then I realised the winner was floating above the now-frozen surface of the lake.

_Yuya..._ Her silvery bob of hair, the tips of which appeared to be fading into a familiar shade of Cocona-blue, flared out behind her. In one of her hands was a red uneven lump that shone with the telltale light of an amorphous.

"Yuyu!" Toto cried, activating his rocket pack and flying to the edge of the lake. I'd never heard him so... distressed before.

_Wait a second... Oh, CRAP!_ "YUYU!" it wasn't long before I followed suit and chased after him, only just realising why he was so worried. _Yuyu's trapped under there!_ Asclepius normally wasn't too bad at providing us with equipment to cover any situation we got into in Pure Illusion, but diving equipment wasn't a big priority. We had some, sure, but it was emergency equipment more than anything. By some miracle, we haven't landed in worlds that were just an endless ocean before, which now I think about it is pretty lucky considering the breathing mask we were provided with only gave us 10 minutes of air, at best.

Reaching the sheet of ice over the water, it wasn't too hard to spot Yuyu underneath it, thankfully, having managed to get the breathing mask on her face, and she was pretty close to the bank. Her gauntlet was vibrating at her side, as if she was trying to lift it to launch an attack, to try and shatter the solid barrier above her, but it must have locked up, being submerged. _It's a good thing she's not too far below us, with that arm weighing her down, she might not have been able to get back up at all..._

Toto, having seen enough, fired another wave of missiles. Some had targeted Yuya, and others were aimed for the lake surface, in an attempt to break through and rescue Yuyu.

His attempt however was futile.

Yuya's body had a red aura around it, as if she was alive with power. The amorphous in her hand glowed brighter and all the missiles Toto had fired imploded in on themselves.

"Nice try..." Yuya taunted. Her hair seemed to be turning bluer by the second, and her face was changing shape too...

It was then that I heard a 'WOOSH!' as the scene around me faded into shadow. Toto's voice sounded like it was coming from far away, even though in reality he was three feet away from me. This once echoing world was suddenly muffled by Yuya's power. I tried to run to his side, to try and help him rescue Yuyu, but my feet were stuck. I tried to lift my leg, I could feel the muscles working desperately as I tried to move, but it was no good. My feet might as well have been superglued to the ground.

"TOTO!" I yelled his name as loudly as I could, but if he heard me, he gave no sign of having done so. Turning back to Yuya, I glared and asked "What do you want with me?"

She laughed like a noblewoman, not something I would have ever thought I'd hear in Yuyu's voice "Oh ho ho ho! Yayaka, I don't want anything from you, I'm here to offer you a chance to escape." My eyes narrowed in suspicion as Yuya's face twisted into a smile that looked like it belonged to the devil. Her hair was almost entirely blue now, and her face seemed to be shifting even as she smiled.

_Ok, I'm getting pissed off,_ "JUST TELL ME!" I roared. Man, I wish I could move. All I could do was stand and watch Toto's futile attempts to save Yuyu, I think all his rockets were taken out, as he was trying to scratch at it with his bare hands. He looked around, desperate for anything that could help, and grabbed a large rock, trying to smash it. He wasn't even making a dent. I could barely see Yuyu's face behind the icy barrier, but it was filled with more emotion than I've ever seen before. _Complete fear._

"It's easy, Yayaka. We have a common enemy in Asclepius." In addition to the features on her face, her voice was changing too, each word sounded less like Yuyu and more like... someone else. "You've seen my power here, we can defeat them together. All you have to do, is leave the Twins."

I turned to her then and was about to tell this bitch to go to hell...

Only to find I was looking at Cocona's face...

I swear it was Cocona at least, but she had red eyes, just like Yuyu did... And she sounded different to both of them. _Who_ is _this?_

Taking the opportunity in my hesitation Not-Cocona added more to the deal, to make it even harder to refuse.

"I can save Cocona too... That's why I made this world originally, you know."

_Wait, this person_ made _this world?!_

"A place to keep her safe. Where Asclepius could never find her... It looks just like the world she's lived in all her life too, although it's a little empty. I'm afraid I don't know very much about her... I never got the chance." A sad smile crossed her face, and she looked down at the lumpy amorphous in her hand "My power was broken into these shards, and it's been very hard to get them back... This is the only one I've been fortunate enough to come across..."

_Her power was broken into shards..._

_Am I talking to Mimi?_

"I thought if I could make copies of my dear daughter's Papika, that I could get her to stay here, but... she doesn't seem too interested in them. It's a shame... We both want her to be safe, and away from this mess, don't we?"

_Yes... I_ do _want Cocona to be safe and away from all this mess, and to destroy Asclepius too. I wish she'd never ran into Papika… Cocona was meant to be mine…_

_My best friend Cocona..._

"I wanted to let you stay with her here, in safety too." Mimi's voice was gentle, musical. It made me think of a wind chime "That's why I made so many Cocona's for you, too. You've had enough of this silly game, haven't you? Asclepius will take over the world and destroy everything..." She turned to look at the twins, Toto still desperately trying to save Yuyu. Yuyu's eyes were half closed, bubbles of air coming away from her breathing mask. "Those two are a part of it. They need you to come here. If you left them behind, they couldn't come here anymore. You and Cocona would be here together, those two would be back on Earth, along with Papika..."

_Yeah... That could work..._

I felt like I was dreaming, watching the twins. Or like, they were a TV that'd been put onto mute with the brightness all the way down. _They're a part of Asclepius. They're a part of all this chaos, and they ruined my life too..._

Yuyu's face became more panic-struck with every second. The time must almost be up for the breathing mask's air supply. Toto had taken his rocket pack off his back and tried to activate it. Mimi's hand lazily glided through the air, and the amorphous in her hand glowed. Just as flames lit up the back of Toto's rocket, they died out. He looked down at it in despair. I'd never seen him like that before...

_Can I leave them behind?_

I looked at Yuyu, trapped in the water again, her eyes almost shut, but I could swear they were looking at me. Those piercing red rubies... The artificial human. A part of a pair that shouldn't even be alive, and were made for the purpose of an evil organisation...

A girl who liked music, and longed to play the piano alongside her brother. The boy who trusted me, and was ready to fix me up if I got injured on any of my adventures...

_They were people._

_They_ are _people._

"No" I said, firmly.

"What?"

"I SAID, NO!" My voice erupted from my mouth and shattered the shadowy world I was trapped in. I don't know what exactly happened then, but Mimi (or Yuya, or whoever it was) disappeared then, as if she was just an electronic device that had the power turned off, and the amorphous fell from her hand. Grabbing it, it flared with green light, and I screamed as loudly as I could, the volume deafening in this world, as I felt a torrent of power coursing into my body. _I don't know if you can grant a wish, but please! Make the ice go away! Let Yuyu out! Please!_

Silence.

And then...

CRACK.

A thick place of ice broke away and sunk into the lake. Without hesitation, Toto dived down into the hole, and I followed not long after, keeping a hold of the amorphous. With the power boost it gave, we had no problem getting Yuyu out of the water, regardless of her heavy metal arm. Panting heavily, we pulled her to shore, our clothes weighed down with water. My hair was dripping wet, and I could barely see past my bangs, but it looked like Toto and Yuyu were safe, and that Yuyu was breathing. _Must've been just in time..._

The amorphous' green light faded out, becoming its original orange again. My strength suddenly drained from my body and I collapsed onto the grass.

I felt hands pressing against my body, trying to shake me awake. Faint voices became clearer as I came to. I tried to push myself up with my arms, and felt a cold lump in my hand. _The amorphous... I beat the trap here._

_I won._

"Yayaka!" The twins both called my name as my eyes slowly opened. For the third time in this place, I woke up, and for the second time, I wasn't alone when I did so...

But for the first time, I felt pretty happy as I looked up and saw those two silver-haired almost-emotionless faces looking down at me. _They stayed here with me. They were worried._

"Any pain?" Toto asked, kneeling over me.

"Nah, I'm good, Toto..." I said, just before I broke into a coughing fit. He twitched to attention, but I rose a heavy arm to dismiss him. _Must've inhaled some water when we went into the lake._ I managed to expel it all though, my chest hurt a bit from trying to get rid of it, and I felt pretty damn cold, but I'd survive. Toto didn't move for a while, but when I'd stopped coughing, he nodded, as if satisfied with what I said.

"Hey, Yuyu... How are you doing?" My voice came out a little strained as I spoke, I kept wanting to clear my throat, although I was pretty sure I was fine after the ordeal today.

"Alive" was her response. She held some folded blue cloth in her hands out towards me "Here."

Confused, I tried to push myself up so I could sit. _What the hell is Yuyu holding?_ My eyes were still kinda bleary from having been in the lake, so it took a second to register what she'd passed me.

"My jacket?" _Where did she get this?_ Although I would have been curious to know the answer to that question, a violent shiver ran around my body, and I put it on without a second thought. It wasn't much, but it might help keep me warm. _I wasn't even in the water for that long and it's hit me this bad... Mimi's strong... Was that the real Mimi though? Or just a part of this world's defense mechanism...?_

_Who cares about that right now? Amorphous has been found, we can head back._

Shakily, I got to my feet and stood, the twins rose with me. Gesturing with my head, telling them to follow, we set off. We could have activated the Hole device right there and then and gotten out of here, but there was something I wanted to check before that happened...

I'd warmed up quite a bit since Yuyu handed my jacket over, not needing it any more, I went to tuck it away in one of the pouches of my belt, when I thought I felt something in the pocket... _Wait a second..._ Reaching in, I pulled out a thin silver chain that caught the rapidly fading sunlight. _This is... my 'dragon egg' necklace..._ Although there was no orange stone where it should have been. _Did Yuyu put it here? Or has it always been here in this world?_ I looked down at the amorphous in my other hand. Large, lumpy and... orange.

I briefly wondered if there was some kind of hidden meaning I was missing here, but before that theory could develop further, I found what I was looking for.

Standing at the edge, looking over the river, we saw Cocona sitting on the concrete walls just below us. _So she's still here..._ Toto managed to track her down for us. I wanted to check up on her, as if she was still alone here, she'd need a way back to our world... Turns out I didn't need to worry though. I saw a twinkle of light in the sky as I looked up, and a shape that looked suspiciously like a large pipe spewing fire from six boosters on the bottom of it. _Papika... Cocoka_ did _say she was building a rocket..._

I was a little annoyed that I wouldn't be the one to save Cocona in this world, but I guess it was better for her to leave with Papika, than for her to come back with us to Asclepius.

"Let's get going," I said, turning my back on her. The twins followed and prepared the Hole device. I was just about to step through when my ears were blessed with the most wonderful thing, I've heard in a long time...

"PAPIKA, YOU IDIOT!"

_Cocona cursing that pink-haired idiot..._ The thought made me smirk. _I'll never forget this as long as I live... although whether I'll live much longer or not with my plan to turn my back on Asclepius is another thing all together..._

Amusement turned into anxiety as I stepped through the Hole back home...

* * *

_Authours note: going by what happened in the anime, I thought it was too good of an opportunity NOT to have the many Cocona's Yayaka would encounter in this world, going by how Cocona ran into the Papika's in her time in this world. In one of my few moments of planning, I came up with all the Cocona's and their personalities/locations beforehand, then rolled a dice to decide the order of which one Yayaka encountered first. I tried to come up with a few punny names for some of the Cocona's, as although it isn't really shown in the anime, but all the different Papika's Cocona encountered had different names (it also helped make it clearer which Cocona Yayaka had ran into next) and I also thought the final false person in the world she ran into would be a good twist/ending/surprise._

_I admit I ended the chapter before Yayaka got back to Asclepius' base, as although it's a scene we see in the anime, I didn't really know what I could write for it, and I figured I had plenty for Chapter 7's text already, so it ends just before she and the twins head back to base. Speaking of chapters, chapter 8 is 12k words, so might be split in two because of that._

_Fun fact! The shark-petting part of the chapter was inspired by the time I went to visit a friend of mine in Indiana! We pet sharks at the zoo, and it was cool._


	11. Episode 8 - Part 1

I'd done a lot of things in Pure Illusion, but pilot a giant mecha wasn't one of them.

Not until today at least.

Well, it started off like a normal day, you know. Nice and warm, perfect time to spend some time at the school pool. I'd just climbed out of it, and ran my hands through my wet hair, which was plastered to the back of my neck. Cicadas chirped in the trees around us, and the cool blue water twinkled with light, as people splashed around and chased each other. For most, it was just a great way to relax on a day like this.

It was a little difficult for me to do though, as Asclepius weren't too happy with me after that last mission. I mean, I guess I couldn't really blame them, I _did_ run off, and got seperated from the twins. Although we'd gotten an amorphous after that, my permissions and status throughout the base went down a level. Part of me couldn't care less about the fact that happened, Asclepius can go screw themselves... But another part of me wanted to please them. Not just because I _have_ to keep working for them, or else they get an innocent person working for them, and they have to put up with all the crap I had to (Asclepius didn't seem to require me for too many experiments any more, which was I was pretty glad about) but still... Even though they're set on world conquest, and made me piece of their plan to make it happen... it'd be nice if they could say I've done a good job, once in a while you know? I'd never really been praised for anything before, or not often at least...

I pretended that this was a vacation they sent me on, rather than other day at school. I was at the pool, the weather was pretty great, everyone around me was having fun... I could enjoy that for a bit. Give me some cream bread, and a cold drink, I'd be in heaven right now...

Well... almost.

"Found it!" chirped the pink-haired idiot in victory, as she rose from the pool, hand raised as high as it could go, a tiny blue orb in its grasp. My heart skipped a beat, and I was about to leap into action, thinking I'd somehow missed an armorphous that was right there in front of me, when I saw the two girls near Papika, who were giving her funny looks, as she loudly proclaimed the blue orb to be candy. Papika opened her mouth wide, ready to eat it, and the two girls reached out trying to stop her. They ended up running around the pool, Papika adamant about eating the thing which'd been underwater for who-knows-how-long, holding it close to her body, making it difficult for them to take away.

_What the heck is up with her...?_

It wasn't long before I caught sight of Cocona, sitting under a shelter at the pool's edge, watching the scene in front of her, oblivious of my approach. Her eyes followed Papika the whole time, and her face broke into a smile that shone with affection. Seeing her like that... it kinda hurt. I mean, she looked pretty cute doing it. _I just wish it was me she was looking at like that..._

Suddenly aware I was right next to her, those warm coffee-brown eyes turned to me, and her expression became one of curiousity. "Yayaka? What's wrong?" she asked, as I sat down beside her. _Besides being a part of an organisation that's gonna destroy the world that I've decided to turn against, and not being able to run away or go to Flip Flap to help you without revealing your base to the enemy, and not having you look at me the way you looked at Papika just then?_ I ended up leaning in close to her face at that last thought, gazing into her eyes. I knew I probably couldn't make her look at me like that, but it would have been nice. A blush appeared on her flustered face (another thing I'd want to remember in addition to her calling Papika an idiot), and it was then that I remembered that she asked me what was wrong, and that I also recalled Cocona being pretty stressed about her Senpai's sudden change of personality the other day. _I'm kinda concerned about you, I mean you seemed pretty upset back then. But I have to say,_ "You look a bit better now," _and I'm glad that's the case._

I saw a flash of pink hair approaching in the background behind Cocona and stood up, about to leave, not really wanting to be around any longer if it meant I'd have to watch those two be together. Papika was pretty quick though and got to us before I could turn my back on them

"Cocona! Play with me!" Papika begged, a snorkel and swimming goggles hanging from her neck. Sometimes I forgot the girl actually had a nose, her eyes and her smile were so large right now, that it didn't look like there was any room for one on her face. I guarentee right now too, if she had a tail, it'd be wagging. Hell, I was surprised she wasn't dancing around, tapping her feet eagerly at the edge of the pool at the idea of playing with Cocona...

"What's with you?" _Are you really a dog that Flip Flap just turned into a human? I mean, you have that super sense of smell going for you too, in addition to that other stuff..._ talking about her feet, that was when I noticed, she had a yellow anklet around her leg "Why're you the only one wearing that thing?"

"It's not weird!" Papika declared, the snorkel and goggles bounced a little as she spoke. She raised her arms and turned her body, as if trying to find a spider I'd just pointed out on her clothes "It's called a... school swimsuit?" _That's not what I meant, you idiot..._

"That ring thing!" I said, pointing at the yellow band around her foot. I was pretty sure it wasn't a medical thing. Yuyu had a bad arm, and to move it without pain, she basically needed some kinda crazy-scientist-mega-gauntlet, if Papika needed something like that, I didn't doubt Flip Flap would be able to provide it, after all, they made a friggin' robot. _How does that robot even go to Pure Illusion with them anyway?_

Papika lifted her leg and began hopping on one foot, her fingers digging at the anklet "I can't take it off" she said.

"Huh?" I couldn't keep my confusion hidden. _Maybe Flip Flap_ did _make it after all if it can't be removed... but why?_

"Let's go, Cocona!" Papika cheerly grabbed Cocona's arm with both her hands, and pulled her away.

"Wha- Hey!" _We were in the middle of a conversation you idiot! Ugh!_ Asclepius have taken any chance of a normal life from me, and are now taking away the few privileges I _was_ granted, and the one thing I was allowed to have, _my only real friend,_ was literally being taken away from me. _For craps sake, can I not just have_ one thing _in my life that's mine?_

Cocona slipped on the wet edge of the swimming pool and tumbled into the water. Papika, aware she'd done so the instant it happened, called her name, reached out for her and took her hand.

Their impact in the pool caused a tower of water to rise... and there was a dark, inky patch below the spot they landed. _Pure Illusion?_ I rushed over, to try and get a better look. _Did they just go to Pure Illusion, in the middle of freakin' school?_

"Tch." _Well, no two guesses where I'm going next..._ I headed for the nurses' office and told her what happened with Cocona and Papika and my suspicions that they went to Pure Illusion. Getting confirmation from base, that was indeed the case, the nurse sent me off to Asclepius so I could go through the portal with Toto and Yuyu, once again, to chase the Flip Flappers through another world...

We weren't given time to change out of our school swimsuits, the instant the three of us made it to the portal room, after being equiped with our weapons, we were just sent off immediately. Asclepius seeing Toto and Yuyu as disposable, and their armour not being a major requirement I could understand, Asclepius could just make more artificial humans to replace them if they died, but _their key to Pure Illusion, sent in without armour?_ That made me suspicious. I don't know if they were trying to get me to be more obedient, more willing to help them out if it meant I could wear my combat gear again, or if they were _hoping_ I'd get killed out here, so they could find someone else who'd be more loyal to them. _Are they trying to get rid of me?_

After making sure we weren't going to drop fifty thousand feet, I stepped through the portal and was at least glad that if Asclepius _were_ trying to get rid of me, that they didn't just dump us on top of one of the towers... And there were a _lot_ to choose from too.

This place made me feel like I've just stumbled into Las Vegas or something, every single structure seemed to have a line of neon light bleeding through it, and the scale of this place... Half of everything was a skyscraper, in terms of height. _If the amorphous was up there..._ Man, I reallyhoped that wasn't the case. The only one who could climb effectively around here was me, and that was only really thanks to being the fastest member of the team, my speed booster, and having the grappling hooks and wires. Although Toto could use his rocket pack to get up there, he'd have to be careful about of running out of fuel and getting stuck, and Yuyu... I really don't remember seeing her climbing too much. Her gauntlet might help her keep a grip on something, but I don't think she'd really want to climb. _But then, I hardly know a thing about her, so I could be completely wrong on that..._

"Cocona found," Toto said, and with that, we were off to whereever Toto's eyepiece took us.

Man, I was happy to have the twins with me in this place. I thought a replica of home devoid of people was pretty bad, and it felt like the buildings were looming over me then, but now? Yeah, if I was seperated from them now, I'd just be curled up in a ball on the floor. Pure Illusion never really scared me this much before, but more recently, ever since Cocona and Papika have been coming here...

I slapped my forehead, trying to knock the thought away. _Now isn't the time for that!_ This place seemed to be making me worse every time I came here now. Whether it was some sort of new defence mechanism that came into place, as more and more amorphous were taken from Pure Illusion, or what, all I know is I wanted this all to be over really soon. I can't take much more of it at this rate...

The air in this world was really dry. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised when you take in all the electronic towers into account. The place smelt very distinctly of electronics, probably a hairdryer to be exact. It wasn't too overwhelming, but I think it'd be just enough to make you 'nose blind'... Not that I thought there'd be anything in here you'd need to be able to smell to be aware of it, but I wondered for a second about Papika. _She seems to have a knack for sniffing things out, would she be able to do that in this world?_ If not, I guess at least we'd be on even footing for hunting the amorphous: Papika couldn't smell it this time, and we probably wouldnt' be able to tell where it is by sight at all.

For some reason, not every amorphous showed up on our visors when we turned them on... Now I think about it, there is _some_ sense to it. Amprhous that are just sitting out 'in the wild' waiting to be found seem to show up, no problems, but if you have to fight a monster or something, you can see the monster, but not the amorphous it contains (if any)...

Craning my neck to look upwards, I saw many lines of light, sorta like you'd see on a circuit board, pulsing through the dark towers. The sky I could see beyond the towers was a dark purple, melting into black at the sides. _This place has to look pretty good from above. I almost wish I had a helicopter..._

_Actually, no, I_ do _wish I had a helicopter, it'd be so much quicker to get around this place. I could just go Spider-Man off on my own with my grappling wire..._

If you couldn't tell from my thoughts, I was getting kinda sick of walking between these impossibly tall buildings. I mean, I know in the last Pure Illusion world I was in, I probably did a lot more running around then, than I did now, but this place was giving me a headache, flashing colours after flashing colours... It felt like it was taking hours just to get from the starting corner of one building, to the next corner. _Can we please just have a sign we're getting somewhere?_

BOOM!

A bright white laser tore a hole in the sky, followed by a torrent of fire.

"A fight..." Yuyu sounded hesitant to move on. I looked over at her. Her face didn't betray any emotions she was feeling, but I noticed one of her feet was half an inch further back than the other as she stood, as if she was ready to run away at the first chance. I guess the encounter with Yuya/Mimi at the lake must've hit her harder than I thought. She's never really shown signs of being worried about getting into combat before now... She was wearing swimming goggles too, which was strange, her eyes were never normally covered like that. I mean, we _were_ called out of swim class, and were pretty much shoved through the portal as soon as we had our weapons on us, but still, I wondered if she'd continue to wear them to every adventure after this one, after she got trapped in the frozen lake.

Eh, whatever, that doesn't matter right now.

The buildings seemed to be getting shorter, the closer we got to the battle, low enough to jump up on, but high enough to lead a surprise attack from above. I leapt up, and the twins followed me without a word.

It didn't take long to find Cocona and Papika, and it looked like we got to them just in time. They were surrounded by three creatures, humanoid in shape, large, but each with the head of a different animal. All of them had glowing red eyes and bodies, as if they'd somehow pulled themselves away from the buildings around us, becoming their own separate life form. The belly of a frog-headed one lit up, rings on its belly appearing like an archery target, each one getting brighter as it got to the middle, bulging outwards.

I shot a few grappling wires through the air, trying to get them to wrap around the frog-man's body. They pulled tight, constricting the bulbous body, the belly of which continued to grow outwards.

The pressure on the creature's body must have been too much, as it shortly burst into luminous blue goo, and formed a puddle on the floor.

Cocona and Papika looked around confused for a second, trying to work out what'd just happened, before spinning around, to see us on top of a nearby building behind them.

"Yayaka!" I heard Cocona say, surprised to see us.

She didn't look at me for long though, and turned her attention back to the threat of the monsters, who lumbered heavily towards them. _At least she has enough sense to stay alert, now…_ "But it's a good thing we hurried here, right?" I said, thinking out loud.

"Gonna save them?" Yuyu asked. Her swimming goggles were up on the top of her head now, her red eyes watching me, carefully. _How should I answer this? I need to keep Cocona safe, but I can't let them know what I'm thinking._

"What? You want them to take the amorphous?" I kinda blurted the questions out, but I thought it'd be enough to satisfy her.

"Location still unknown." Toto said, trying to get more information from his visor. _I can work with this._ At that point, I leapt off leaving them behind, hoping they'd see it as me being eager to get the amorphous, after all, "That's obviously the amorphous's defense trap!" I said, hopping from one neon wall to another. Okay, I had no idea if that was the case, but I clearly sounded confident enough to convince the twins, as they tagged along behind me. _Or were they seeing whose side I'm on…?_

Toto let loose a storm of missiles at the budgie-headed monster Cocona and Papika were having trouble with, basically melting it into another spot of go on the floor. "One left" he announced.

Yuyu was taking care of the final creature, which had an insect-like head. It chittered, and looked away, as if trying to beg for mercy. The monster's request was answered with a gauntleted punch to the head, leaving a third fluorescent puddle on the circuit board floor.

"Uh… Thanks, Yayaka—"

"Don't get the wrong idea." I cut off Cocona before she could continue talking. _I have to show Toto and Yuyu I'm loyal to Asclepius._ "How's it look?"

Toto, who was kneeling down at the corpse of the monster Yuyu killed, stood as he gave the results "Bust."

"Waste of energy" Yuyu added.

_Of course it wouldn't be that easy…_ "Let's go." We turned our backs on the Flip Flappers and began to search elsewhere.

It was a little while until Toto's eyepiece gave us some information and we had an idea where the amorphous was. I got a little worried though when he said 'it's moving'. If it was that whole situation with chasing the rocket again, and we had to jump from tower to tower, racing each other again, complete with drops that'd easilly leave you dead, especially since we didn't have any form of armour this time, I would have quite gladly given up on Asclepius right there and then. There was something though about that news. If the amorphous was moving, that'd confirm my earlier theory. "So it _was_ one of those monsters." None of them seemed to be able to fly, which I was happy about, so surely this land's defensive trap was land-bound. I don't care if it could breathe fire, was fifty feet tall, or if it could wipe out this entire world with a snap of its fingers, as long as it stays on the ground, I'm completely fine with that. _If it tries to kill Cocona though, it'll have me to answer to._

"Earlier... Why did you save them?" Yuyu asked. She sounded suspicious. If I was looking at her, I knew her eyes would have been narrowed, and her face alert. _Does she want to know for herself, or is she just gonna report me when I get back?_ Her tone of voice made me think the latter of the two options. I was pretty glad my back was turned to her, she might have caught the panic on my face if I wasn't.

"What? Didn't you hear what I told them?" I turned to face her then, ready to challenge her if she suspected my actions any more. _They were in trouble, three against two, at least one of them could fire lasers, how the heck can two inexperienced explorers of Pure Illusion go up against that? We haven't even found any amorphous until we started following them in Pure Illusion, how the heck are we supposed to be successful without them to chase?_

Toto turned towards Yuyu at that point, and had a hushed conversation with her that I could barely hear ("Wrong idea?" Toto asked, "Sure hope so" Yuyu replied) but I knew what they were basically saying. _They don't trust me. They know I'm not entirely on thier side..._

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I shouted at them. _My friendship with Cocona was false to begin with and could come crashing down any day... And now the twins, these two I've been travelling with for years now, and have just started to get to know... Now I could lose them too._ I could feel a tenseness in the back of my teeth, and a tingling in my left hand. The light from the city of circuit board towers was giving me a headache. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to punch someone in the face, or to scream at them. _How the hell am I gonna last any longer?_

Toto's headset beeped, "found it," he said.

Anger began to bubble up in me. _Good. If it's been found, that means there's a monster I can beat up._ Frag knows I need an outlet for all this rage right now, and this would be a good opportunity. We set off, Toto guiding us to where we needed to be. Watching the back of his head was starting to irritate me. Part of me just wanted to lash out at him. _No. I can't do that. I need Toto and Yuyu to trust me. If I attack them, I'll lose them for certain. Just keep calm. Save this anger for the monster. Just keep calm..._

_Holy hell..._ Anything I felt before died the instant I set eyes on that... thing... Well, it was land-bound for sure, that was pretty good news, although I was starting to have second thoughts about fighting it if it was around 50 feet tall...

If you want an idea for size, I thought before that it looked like the other monsters might have been parts of the buildings that'd come to life somehow, but this? Although there were similarities between this guy and the smaller ones, if the smaller ones were just _parts_ of buildings, this one could have been made up of _every single structure_ in a mile radius... Or that's how it felt at least, looking up at it. That's all I could do, just... stare, dumbfounded. I didn't even react when Papika and Cocona found us... Not at first at least. Both of them were bowled over by wind from the big guy's footfall. That was the thing that got me to snap out of it

"What the heck is their deal?" _They're basically magical girls, they're meant to be powerful in those forms, and they can't handle something like that?_

We probably couldn't either, to be fair, but if we were to get the amorphous before them, we needed to attack sooner rather than later.

"Hey-!"

"No need to tell me. I'm on it." Toto completely cut off the order I was about to give, launching himself into the sky and firing a bunch of missiles. To be fair, he did exactly what I would have told him to do if he let me speak, but I could feel anger trying to bubble up inside me again, _did he just cut me off? Is he rebelling?_ I was about to yell at Yuyu to do something too, but she'd already ran off. _I'm losing control of my team!_

Trails of smoke wound around the buildings as Toto's rockets made their way to his target... Unsurprisingly, they didn't even make a dent. The rockets didn't cause the large creature's body toripple or anything, which suggested it was made up of a hard shell. _Are explosives the best way to tackle it?_

In what was probably a stupid move, (hey, I'm angry, who the hell thinks clearly when they're angry?) I shot a grappling wire as high as I could and ran up the side of a building, fiddling with my wire and remote detonated bombs. Somehow, I managed to get a fair few of them all spread along the wire. Running as fast as I could, I jumped off the edge of the building, throwing out the explosive-ridden wires. Landing safely on another building on the far side, I pressed the button and set them off. The sound of explosions behind me was pretty satisfying to hear... and one thing made that even better.

I wanted to be mad at Yuyu for running off without me even having given an order, but I saw her charging towards me, an then past me, her red eyes fierce with fury, as she too, jumped to attack the monster. _Ok, following orders or not, I'm pretty fine with what you've done._ I was surprised she could keep her balance the whole way, she was running along a diagonal surface, but still, if she was gonna smash that monster in the face, I'd be pretty happy wi-

CRASH!

I was so focused on Yuyu, I didn't even see the giant clawed hand that was descending above us, ready to flatten the building. By some miracle, I was still alive, falling, but alive, yet I couldn't help worrying.

"YUYU!"

I doubted she could hear me, no matter how loud I screamed. Rumbling and crashing, the whole building beneath me was crumbling, noise like glass cracking and snapping, loud and overpowering, filled the air, along with a cloud of dust.

A flash of silver hair was just about visible through the grey dusty air, I fired off another couple of wires, one to Yuyu, and one to the side of another building nearby. I hoped the monster didn't realise we weren't killed, I got a feeling if it lashed out, there was no way we'd get that lucky again. Both wires caught on their targets. I looked down to see Yuyu dangling from one of the wire's I'd shot out, and the other one attached to the side of the building.

"Barely safe..." I was relieved at that, neither of us appeared to be hurt although "it hasn't taken any damage, either." The monster's stomps echoed loudly, boucing off the sides of all the towers, and the land shook with each step it took.

"Let me down already" Yuyu said from below, impatient.

"Are you guys mad at me or something?" I asked, lowering both of us to the ground. "You two have been acting funny lately"

"Acting funny? Not us. You." It sounded like she spat that last word out.

"I'm on your side, Yuyu, I'm not with the Flip Flappers," _No matter how much I'd rather be..._

"You saved them" she accused.

"So what if I did?!" _I_ have _to do that! Cocona's the only one who can save the world from Asclepius... Save the world from us... No, I can't get caught up thinking like that now, we have a bigger problem to deal with._ "You should be glad I saved them! Have you seen the size of that thing? There's no friggin' _way_ we can take that down, with just the three of us. Whether you like it or not, Yuyu, we're gonna have to team up for this one. We need their help."

I didn't get a reply to that. The rest of our descent was spent in silence, which was only broken as the giant took another few steps forwards. I wondered what Yuyu was thinking about as we made our way down. She was quiet most of the time anyway, but something about this silence... bothered me.

Eventually, we were back on the ground. Yuyu shot me a look, her red eyes piercing, and face unreadable, before she ran off.

We met up with Toto, Cocona and Papika a little while later, running away from the monster, with Cocona voicing what we were all thinking: "What are we supposed to do about something that huge?"

"There's gotta be a way!" I said, trying to be encouraging. I probably felt as hopeless as she did just then, but I couldn't let her give up. She had to keep going.

Papika opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but Yuyu spoke before she did.

"Danger"

The twins took off without us. I probably could have kept up with them, no problem, but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to look around and see why. My curiousity was met with a massive red hand barely a few feet away.

_This is it... we're done for..._

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for impact. Something happened though. I could see purple past my eyelids, even though my eyes were closed. Opening them, I saw a bright purple barrier, dancing with electricity seperating me, Cocona and Papika from the giant hand. Before I could wonder what was going on, there was a voice I'd never heard before.

"Now's your chance! Get in!"

It took a while to work out what the voice meant, before I spotted an opening in one of the towers. I was frozen. It probably just belonged to the person who set up the barrier and just saved us, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to move. _What if it was a trap though? What if they were just getting us to gather in one place so we could all get taken out at once?_

"We're saved! We can hide out back at Pop's base!" Papika said, taking Cocona's hand. Cocona smiled and nodded at Papika, and they both ran towards the doorway. _They've been there before, and they're still alive. Whoever they're talking about can't be a bad guy._

I don't know if Toto and Yuyu were in there too, maybe they were, maybe they weren't. Either way, this mysterious voice ('Pops', did Papika say?)sounded like he had a plan, or that he could help us. If Cocona could trust him, that was good enough for me.

I followed them into the building…

* * *

 

_Authors note: sorry if this half ended kinda suddenly, I didn't really know where else to split the chapter as it would have been around 12k words otherwise. I wasn't quite sure about splitting the chapter, but at the same time, I'm trying to work on episode 10's chapter and... it's proving difficult/troublesome, so if nothing else, this gives me more time to write ahead. But yes, more story! second half will be posted next week!  
_


	12. Episode 8 - Part 2

'Pops' was... a lot smaller than I was expecting, maybe half, or even a third, of the size of me. Apparently, he built this entire place, _all himself._ That thought just blew my mind. I know time went differently here, depending on the zone you were in, like weeks in here could be a day outside, but even then, but even if that was the case here, I felt like even if one hundred years passed in here for every day or so otherwise, you could still easily spend real-world _years_ working on this... especially if you were that small.

His lab was pretty cramped. Me and Cocona were pretty much on hands and knees, trying to get a look at Pop's screen, barely inches away from each other. I was seeing red, not just because of my anger earlier, but literally too, ever single light in this room was red... It was enough to make me even madder. _We have an impossible monster to fight, my team is disobedient and my heart is beating like crazy being so close to Cocona, I'm gonna explode in this place..._

BANG!

For a stupid second I thought something had happened in my brain at last, it wouldn't have surprised me, but that noise was followed by a CRASH! causing the whole room to shake, and some of the red lights to blink off.

"This place won't last long..." Pops said, sitting at his computer. "Very well. That just means the time has come."

"Huh? What're you babbling about?" I aimed that question at Pops, as he just seemed to be thinking out loud about something. I didn't really want to trust him, the whole lab coat and fancy computer equipment making me think too much of Asclepius. I looked up at Cocona "Who's this tiny old man anyway?"

"Pops!" Papika said, rather unhelpfully. I ignored her. _Can you really trust this guy, Cocona? It sounds like you've met before once, but still, how do you know he's not just here to trap us and keep us for experimentation? How do we know that creature isn't his, and that he's just trying to keep us all trapped here!_ I wanted to press for more information, or announce my concerns, but Cocona cut into the conversation.

"Anyway, we have to hurry up and get out of here!" She said. It wasn't exactly a helpful statement, but it was one I could agree with at least. _We're sitting ducks if we stay here, when that barrier blows, we're all dead._

Pop's smirked at Cocona's comment. "Can't do that, I'm afraid... If this place is destroyed, the city's done for"

"But at this rate-"

"What's the point of surviving if I lose what's precious to me in the process?!" Pops yelled through gritted teeth, before slamming his fists down on his keyboard.

Although I was suspicious of Pops, that sentence struck me... _What's precious to you, huh?_ I looked at Cocona, the only good thing about my life, and tried to imagine what it would be like if I lost her. _That can never happen..._

BANG!

The room shook again, and sparks shot from the ceiling. Screens blinked off and on, and a couple of loose cables began to dribble out from the panels inside the walls.

"Hey, this looks really bad..." _We need something that can help us. Anything!_ I felt a little like I was going to have a panic attack. Although there was only one monster to worry about, I felt like we were surrounded, and there was no escape.

"...Fine. I'll stop it" I was quite surprised to hear Cocona sound so... determined. So certain. She never really knew what she wanted to do. Even when we played storytelling games when we were kids, she'd ask me for prompts every now and then, half of them didn't seem to have a direction until someone else piped in...

I don't know how well Pops knew Cocona, but he gasped when he heard the statement, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, and turned to her. I couldn't see his eyes beyond his goggles, but I'd guess they were wide with surprise.

"Reckless." "Thoughtless" The twins gave their input on Cocona's descision, and it wasn't long before I joined them:

"You know that's impossible!" _That thing bowled you and Papika over just by_ stepping. _We did a team attack all focused on one spot and didn't damage it in the slightest. Me and Yuyu nearly killed ourselves attacking, and you're saying you want to try and take this thing on?! I can't keep you safe if you're friggin' dead!_

"I was scared of coming to Pure Illusion..." A shadow fell over Cocona's face as she spoke "Because I might change something again... I might destroy something again..." _You couldn't have known what would happen Cocona, you shouldn't feel bad about that..._ I was about to talk, about to say those words, but before I could, she smiled and turned to Papika "But I'm not scared anymore. I want to protect that's precious with my own hands!"

Papika's face lit up light a firework that had just exploded into sparks of colour, and she threw her arms around Cocona. "Me too!" She proudly proclaimed "I won't let you go!"

My heart felt like it was just squeezed in a vice.

_I've lost Cocona..._

The way those two looked at each other... I couldn't take it. That should have been me with Cocona. _She should be my friend! My... more than a friend..._

I was pretty surprised I still had teeth, I felt like they should have crumbled by now, with how tightly my jaw was clenched.

Pops smirked in his seat, amused by the anitics of those two. "You girls might be able to handle it."

"What?" Somehow, I hadn't shouted the word. I guess, feeling kinda tense, had somehow restricted my voice.

"Then I shall trust you with the power of rebellion!" Pops continued, ignoring my confusion. Cocona and Papika looked as bewildered by Pop's statement as I felt.

He took us over to a larger part of his base, and slid open a panel in the wall you wouldn't have noticed anything strange about, unless you already knew about it. Papika was so curious, she was almost kissing the wall with how close she was to it. Cocona was bent down, looking over her. I stood a fair distance back, arms folded. I wasn't impressed with what I saw.

The panel had opened up to reveal two tiny rooms, stacked on top of each other. Papika was already clambering in to the above while Cocona questioned Pops "Isn't it a bit small?"

"No. You're just too big," was his response.

I watched as Cocona was squashed into the lower room, all the while Papika was playing around with some levels on the wall of her space, exclaiming how cool everything was.

"I leave the fate of the city in your hands... ACTIVATE!" Pop's yelled the last word and shut the Flip Flappers in behind the wall panel, his lab coat flaring out dramatically behind him. Screams echoed out from behind the wall, fading, as if Cocoa and Papika were being taken away.

I went up to Pops, turned him around to face me, and held him up by the collar of his lab coat as I screamed "WHAT DID YOU DO TO COCONA?!" in his face. He smirked in response, before turning his head to some nearby monitors. On the screens, were the faces of the pink-haired-idiot, grinning away, messing around with levers, and Cocona, whose face went from curiosity to certainty in a few seconds, and she too began to move some levers and switches. Both of them were squished into their spaces pretty badly, they'd get cramp if they were stuck in there too long... I was about to yell at Pops again, when the monitors showed a couple of vehicles, a blue hovercar and a red plane, approaching the huge monster, said vehicles responding to Papika's and Cocona's commands. Seeing they were fine, I let Pops go, and found my eyes glued to the monitors.

"Unit 01: Vermilion... Unit 02: Blau Azur... Launch!" He stuck his arm out towards the screens, as if he were the leader of an army and he was sending his units out. _I guess in a way he is... The Flip Flappers might still be alive at the moment, but if he's sending them off into battle and they die, I'm blaming him._

The room faded into darkness quickly before becoming red again. Pops frantically tapped buttons and slammed his hands on various consoles, trying to get his equipment to respond. One of the screens changed from views of Cocona and Papika's vehicles to one of the monster. The purple barrier was gone now, and a large glowing claw hovered in the air above the tower we were hiding in. _It can't be over this quickly!_

The claw descended...

And then stopped.

I wondered what the heck had happened for a second, before I caught sight of a thick cable wrapped around one of the monsters' feet. The cable had come from Cocona's blue hovercar, and it must have been a _lot_ more powerful than it looked, as she actually managed to pull the monster's leg away and unbalance it.

"Me too!" Papika's voice came through speakers that were strewn all around the room. Pushing forwards on the levers in her cockpit, she commanded her plane forwards, and shot a hail of missiles from the launchers on the wings. Clusters of explosions and smoke spotted and spread all over the monster's back as the missiles made contact. It looked like it must've dealt _some_ damage at least.

"Yay!" came Papika's victory cry. I wished I could share her enthusiasm, but all I could see was where the monster was aiming next. Thankfully, Papika was pretty quick to notice too.

"Cocona!" me and Papika called. _Please, don't get crushed..._

The monster grabbed the blue hovercar and squeezed it tightly. Thankfully, Cocona wasn't crushed further in her cockpit, but she must have felt pretty sick, as the monster chucked her away, like a toddler that'd just gotten bored with its toy.

"Don't throw her!" I knew no one beyond Toto, Yuyu and Pops could hear me, but yelling at the screen made me feel better. Cocona's eyes were tightly shut, her knuckles on the lever she was holding white, and it was a little hard to tell, but I think she was shaking in her seat. My hands balled into fists. _I'm gonna find a way to kill that monster. Nothing throws Cocona around like that, not while I'm around!_

Papika set her plane into a dive the instant she saw Cocona's car falling through the air, and shot out some cables of her own to catch her. _You'd better not mess this up, Papika..._ Much to my relief (and Cocona's) Papika had no problem picking Unit 02: Blau Azur out of the sky, and securing the vehicle safely. _This is tough to watch._ Seeing Cocona and Papika, willingly throwing themselves into danger like that, was making me really anxious. When the monitors showing live video of the scenes in front of us cut out, I wasn't know whether to be relieved or terrified further.

"We have to protect the city!" came Cocona's voice from the speakers, shortly followed by Papika saying "Take that!" along with the sound of more rockets being fired. Pops looked over at a screen right next to him, which was filled with walls of text, scrolling by impossible fast, information only he (and possibly Toto) could interpret.

"Not yet. This isn't enough..." I don't know what he was mumbling about, but it sounded bad.

"Hey-!" I was about to ask him for more information, when the large monitor in front of us shifted colours, and the image of Papika's and Cocona's faces filled the screen.

"Pops! Isn't there a way to take it out?!" Cocona blurted out. Her voice shook, as her image rumbled on the screen, presumably having just been hit by another attack.

There was a pause before Pops spoke up, "You two might be able to awaken it."

"How?!" Papika's voice was urgent, laced with fear. On the screen, her face tilted to the side and we heard a loud BANG on the speakers, the monster having lashed out at her. It sounded like the engines on her plane had just failed, and then there was a crash, and the sound of metal grating against metal.

"Awaken!" Pops yelled, throwing his arms up in the air. I could only stare down at him. _That's not helpful! What kinda advice is that?_ I wanted to smack him around the head, get him to speak sense, but whatever message he was trying to get across, Cocona and Papika seemed to understand with no trouble.

"Synch up..." "...Our hearts?" _Are they finishing each other's sentences now?_ It felt a bit like something died in me then. _They're too close..._ From the way they looked at each other earlier, I thought it was too late, but those words just then... that squashed any hope I had.

All of a sudden, one of the monitors on the red walls flared a bright green. Hundreds of squares filling up the area, stacking on top of each other, like a stereo that showed the levels of music playing. Like a stoplight, the green became yellow, then red.

"Flip flapping!" Came their battle cry. Blue and pink light filled the one monitor that showed us what was happening to those two as they fought. The view changed to Unit 01: Vermillion, downed and embedded in the ground, glowing with the light of the two Flip Flappers. The monster stood and watched. No expression ever appeared on its face, but I could almost imagine it was curious to see what was happening with those two little vehicles.

There was a lot of noise that sounded like clanging as if parts were being removed and replaced, and humming electricity, the volume pulsing all the while… and then the light faded. Now clear again, standing in the place of what used to be Vermillion and Blau Azur was a mecha that looked like it was made of more parts than the little car and plane had, combined, including a sword hilt in one hand, and a round shield in the other. I couldn't help feeling suspicious of Pops again. _Just like my collapsible water bottle… Did this guy meet someone from Asclepius before and teach them how to do that sorta stuff?_ I glared back at the screen again. _You'd better be safe in there, Cocona._

Indeed, she was. Another image on the screen popped up in the corner, showing Papika and Cocona both crammed in a cockpit, but now they were together in the same one, a cyan circuit board pattern running around the inside of it. I was a little surprised the girls themselves hadn't transformed, they'd yelled out their magic words after all, but I guess all that power went to the machine.

"The PapinaKing!" Pops proudly proclaimed. He must have come up with that name just now, making a combination of the Flip Flapper's names… but if he didn't… could he have been waiting for these two all this time? Or some other pair who had that power? _So, if it was me and Cocona, would it be the YayanaKing? The CocokaKing?_ Call me a little biased, but I know which names I'd prefer for the mecha.

The PapinaKing was bigger than the two vehicles would have been, if they were placed on top of each other, but it looked like it only came up to the monster's waist. Not that it seemed to bother the pilots inside. They both looked pretty frightened when they were apart from each other, but now they were together? Their faces were confident smiles, eyes lit up with determination. Papika turned a lever and a blade covered in square-ish hooks leapt out from a golden hilt the right hand the mecha was holding. Without a word, Cocona pressed a button on her side of the mecha, and the barbed sword leapt forward.

There was a sharp whistle as the blade swung through the air and struck the monster, which tumbled backwards, having lost its balance.

"Your destruction of Pops' city ends here!" They declared, drawing up the red circular shield, the mecha's green eyes peering over the top, daring the monster to make a move. A challenge it gladly accepted.

They moved pretty damn fast, strikes, slashes and swipes from both sides lashing out at each other, red and blue flashing, two giants clashing… Flames of sparks, dancing lights in the dark…

All of this movement flowed perfectly from the PapinaKing as if it had been choreographed and planned out beforehand. All of it, without a single word from the girls within. No communication at all, and they were so in-synch, they knew exactly what the other was planning to do next and moved the parts they controlled accordingly. They've known each other for only a few weeks at best, and they were on that much of a level of close understanding…

As much of a spectacle as the fight was to watch… All I could do was wish it was me with Cocona in that mech. Even though the two girls winced when the mecha took a hit bigger than they were both expecting and ended up squashed further inside that cockpit… _I just wish it was me with her…_

"Eat this!" The only words that'd come from the PapinaKing's pilots since they combined forces. And with those words, the sword thrust out at a red, clawed limb…

…and sliced it off, a spray of cyan blood oozing from the stump of an arm, and the monster's body slumped over.

"We did it!" Papika said, as Cocona panted heavily, trying to coordinate it all must've tired her out. I was about to cheer right alongside them when I saw the monster twitch.

"Not yet!" _Stay alert, you idiots!_ Although Pops managed to speak to them earlier, to tell them to awaken the real power of Vermillion and Blau Azur, I didn't know if they could hear my warning.

The monster's black cape fluttered in the wind as it stood up. The cyan blood dripping from the stump of an arm began to solidify and grow out, forming a new scythe-like limb. Before anything else could happen, before I could even take a breath to yell another warning, the monster shot forward, and that blade pierced the PapinaKing in the chest.

My mouth fell open. The metal at the back of the PapinaKing was peeling away from the scythe-like arm of the creature. Shards of metal and stray strands of wire flying away. At first it didn't look like much, but then the mecha began to fall apart. The metal limbs ground against each other, struggling to stay attached, before the bolts connecting all the parts fell and scattered, like someone who'd just dropped a bunch of coins. The barbed blade flew away like a boomerang, and the mecha's head, _the place where Cocona was,_ fell to the ground, the green eyes now just a glassy grey.

"Cocona!" _No…_ I could only stare at the screen. _We've lost… Our only hope has been destroyed…_ The monster stood over the destroyed mecha's head, looking down on it. Seeing that scene bought back a memory of mine I'd rather forget…

_It was right after me and Cocona met, I'd taken her hand, and we were trying to run away from the hospital. Asclepius wasn't happy with my attempted escape. They demanded I tell them what I was planning. I refused to talk. As a response, they grabbed my left arm, at the elbow… That was when they put a tracker in me. I couldn't quite remember it before, but now I was certain... because it friggin' hurt. I guess before that happened, they thought I was stupid enough to just go along with them, and not question anything. I had a bruise on my arm there for days after._ I moved my left arm at the elbow, and felt the tiny lump of a tracking device as my muscles moved. I guess I was so used to it now, I just dismissed it, but remembering it again... although it was small, it was _there._ And it wasn't going away any time soon...

_I told Cocona, the next time I saw her after that I got hurt kinda bad, and I hadn't been able to see her again until I was better. It was exaggerated, but not entirely a lie. I could feel the tracker in my arm, right at the elbow, whenever I bent it. It was just a little lump, but it was_ there… _And it would never go away. They attached it directly to the bone, I couldn't hack that thing out of my arm, even if I wanted to. By the time I saw her again, the bruise was long-gone, but the pain was still there. It took a couple of years for it to finally go away. I guess I should be thankful it didn't permanently screw my arm up._

_Cocona noticed though that it'd been bothering me for a long time. It wasn't long after that, that she gave me the dragon egg necklace…_

The view of Cocona and Papika on the screens showed them both out cold. _I can't leave them like that._ That monster could bring its massive foot down on the mecha's head whenever the hell it wanted and crush them both. I didn't like Papika, but she didn't deserve to die like that, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna let Cocona die. _I can't give up yet! I have to help them!_

"Hey, old man. Don't you have any more?" _Come on, he had to, he just had to._

He put a hand to his head, pushing his goggles over his eyes. "Do you want to save them?"

"What?! I said nothing of the sort! I'm asking if you have any more of those robots!"

Although my speech came out pretty neutral, I could feel two sets of red eyes on me. I knew Toto and Yuyu were listening carefully to my every word, ready to pick out the slightest hint that'd screw over any remaining reputation I had with Asclepius. As much as I didn't want to believe that they would report me, I knew it would be the truth... _What the hell am I thinking, I don't have time to worry about that now!_ "You've for more, right? Give it to me!" _This is urgent, you idiot!_

"Okay, but answer my question first" _Cocona doesn't have time for this!_ "Do you want to save those two?"

My teeth were clenched tightly in my jaw, and I could feel the anger coming back. I knew what my answer was, but I could feel the twins red eyes on me. I looked over at them, and was met with piercing looks, as if they could see into my soul... Hell, it looked like they wanted to _take_ my soul. They were wolves, circling, calculating, waiting for their chance to attack the weak prey before them.

I swallowed hard, as if I was trying to stop the words I was about to say. I felt like I was giving myself a death sentence, as I quietly said "yes..." Although the word was barely a whisper, the impact it had might as well have been that of an alarm. The expressions on the twins face's barely changed, but the disapproval was radiating from them. For some reason, looking at Yuyu's face, when her dissapointment with me was that clear, really hurt. _Did I really just do that?_ My brain was kind of just going on auto pilot now, unable to believe that I'd just said, out loud, that I was going to betray Asclepius. _So much for keeping it a secret plan..._

Pops walked off and beckoned me to follow him. _What have I done?_ I knew what I was doing, and I knew going to save Cocona and Papika was the best thing to do, but... I couldn't help but feel like I'd made a horrible mistake.

Pops gave me a reassuring smile when he showed me the truck I was gonna be driving. I appreciated the gesture, especially with the heavy dread that'd filled me, but it didn't make me feel any better.

A shock went through my body when I sat in the driver's seat and suddenly my head was filled with information. I feel a bit like I'd just watched a video played at a crazy speed, but able to understand every single word. _I know how to operate this._

"Now, if you want to save those two, remember these words: Yapico mode!" He said this to me as the door to the driver's cab shut.

Sitting there, alone in that truck... That was the second time I'd been on my own in Pure Illusion, the first being that time when I was in a replica of home. It was quiet in the truck. Silent almost. No location-activated birdsong here. It was... strange. But not quite a bad thing, or not so scary this time at least. I felt like I could just hide out here forever and I would be totally fine with that...

However, that wasn't a thing I could do right now. Cocona needed me.

"Pedal to the metal" I said, trying to jolt myself back to reality. I was feeling kinda day-dreamy sitting in the driver's seat. Or at least, I was until I got the truck started, because when I did... Hearing the engine roar to life and feeling the vibrations under my feet as the truck moved... It felt like I was running with Asclepius' speed booster, with how fast I was going, but I was barreling along in a massive brick of a vehicle. Being in command of this power? Yeah, that made me feel a little better.

I floored it, making the truck go as fast as it possibly could, and even then, it looked like I barely made it in time. The monsters foot was hovering only a few feet above the ruined head of the PapinaKing. My fingers flew over the controls in the truck, until I found the button I was looking for.

BOOM!

The big purple energy blast I just fired looked a lot more powerful than the weapons Cocona and Papika had been given with their vehicles. It still wasn't enough to do a scratch, but it was enough to distract it. I admit I felt pretty disappointed my attack didn't do anything.

I was hoping my entrance into the fray would look a lot more heroic than that, but I couldn't hide the fact I was grumpy my weapon sucked as much as theirs, despite looking so powerful. _At least my truck is way bigger than what they had..._

"Yayaka!" Cocona's voice came through some speakers that were inside the truck. I felt a blush form across my face. I always kinda wanted to save Cocona from a monster, like in all those stories she told me, about how the noble knight saved the princess from the dragon, and now I had my wish granted (or at least as close to it as I was going to get), and I couldn't even look at her. There was a little doll of Pops hanging from the rear-view mirror I ended up looking at, trying to hide my emotions.

"Don't get the wrong idea!" I know I mangled the pronunciation of those words, putting emphasis on syllables that didn't need it, but that's what my brain did when I liked someone apparently. "I'm doing this for the amorphous!" _Yeah, yeah, claim that all you like, you know that's not the case..._ "Hurry up and get in!"

Both of them quickly ducked into the truck when I opened the door for them. Papika made noises of curiosity and wonder as she made her way to the far side of the compartment, clambering past me as she did so (although my space was a lot bigger than the ones Cocona and Papika had, it wasn't big enough that she could get past me without touching me). I shut the door as soon as Cocona was in, my heart going a million miles an hour as she brushed past me. I sat between them (as that's where the driver's seat was. A bit strange, but Pops himself was kinda strange, so it didn't really surprise me), trying to not think too much about sitting so close to Cocona, which I definitely wasn't nervous or excited about, in any way or form, no matter what my rapidly flushing face was doing, and also finding myself annoyed that in all the time Papika had been here, that she hadn't shut up once. She was still 'ooh!' and 'aah!'-ing at everything. Both of them were pressed up to me, not as squished as it looked when they combined forces in the PapinaKing, but still, it was kinda hard to move around too much if I wanted to.

Being so close to Cocona, it took a while for my brain to remember what I was doing here in the first place, but seeing the movement of a large black foot outside reminded me of the urgency of the situation.

"Yapico mode!" I yelled. At first, nothing happened, and I quickly grew suspicious that my paranoia was right: that Pops was just another madman in a lab coat who'd wanted us gathered in one place, so we could all be taken out by the monster...

And then the shaking started.

The scattered pieces of the PapinaKing flew towards the truck and began to form around it. The truck itself began to tremble, and it sounded like it was being pulled apart, itself. I was expecting Papika to whimper like she was scared, but she never made a sound…

It was odd actually. The truck's cab rose in the air, and changed shape. Instead of being a big block, it became more angular. The three of us were forced closer together, and the controls inside the vehicle changed from any buttons and switches, to just a few, and without a single word passing between us, we reached for a mechanism each. None of us picked the same one, no one suddenly had to move their hands to another control…

It was strange. If I was commanding this thing with Toto and Yuyu, the same thing probably would have happened, but here? With Cocona and Papika? I felt… a connection. I can't really describe it, but I could almost feel something thrumming in the air between us. I felt… warm. I wasn't quite in physical contact with either girl beside me, but I could feel the heat radiating from their bodies. Their presence was reassuring. I felt like if I fell, I could trust them to catch me, or pull me back to my feet… If I was in the same situation with Toto and Yuyu, I got the feeling that even though they could catch me, that it would just be a simple reaction, and there would be no thought or meaning behind the gesture… but if it was Cocona or Papika? I wouldn't doubt for a second that if they caught me, they would mean it. They'd catch me because they wanted me to be safe. Because they cared.

The feeling was a little much for me. It was a lot more than I was used to…

This is no time for being overcome with emotion.

We had a monster to take out.

I couldn't see how the new Yapico Boy (a voice in my head instantly corrected me when I wanted to call it the PapinaKing) looked from the outside, but going by how far it came up in the monster, it was a lot taller than the last mecha at least. It stood pretty steady too, as solid as a mountain, and all the power of fifty tanks.

It felt like just what we needed to win.

"CHARGE!"

We powered towards the enemy, the jets from Papika's old plane propelling us into the enemy in an instant. I had no idea how a thing this big and heavy could move as fast as it did, but I wasn't complaining. This thing felt _good_ to command. No words were needed between us. Somehow, we all knew what the others were thinking, and moved the mecha accordingly. Not one action was out of place, no one stumbled, or slipped, no one touched anything but the controls… for want of a better phrase that wasn't a pun, we were a well-oiled machine. Each movement was smooth, and none of us flinched when we took a hit, instead, we were quick to respond with our own. The times I caught glimpses of the Yapico Boy from the window, I could see red trails of light as we moved, and each limb I saw could have been as big as a house, but each one was a solid block of red steel.

Cyan blood sprayed as we punched and kicked the monster, but although satisfying, that wasn't quite the best thing about it.

I had no idea how the heck Pops managed to program everything like this so it would all work together like it did, but I won't complain as he somehow managed to include some of my favourite weaponry: wire laced with bombs. Whether Cocona and Papika knew how to use them, I don't know, but regardless of that, when I discovered it was an option available to use, I grinned the whole time. The Flip Flappers moved as I needed them to, all without saying a word, and that was when I set the wires free. They whipped out, tying themselves around the monster… and then came the explosion…

_KABOOM!_

…Flames ripped across the monster, billowing out into clouds of yellow fire. It looked like it did a lot of damage…

But I could _feel_ it wasn't enough. The room grew colder.

Papika and Cocona had begun to cheer, thinking the fight was over.

"It's too early for celebrations." My words felt… wrong, almost, as I said them. They were true, but just the fact I said something out loud in this room… The connection between the three of us wavered. If that happened because I spoke out loud, I didn't care. Or not at the moment at least, if that thing was _still standing_ , we were still in danger.

"Hey! This thing has some other gimmick, right?" _Come on, Pops. I know you can hear us. There has to be something else we can use!_

I couldn't see his face, but I could hear the smirk in his voice. "Release your impedance! Yell like those two!"

"HUH?!" _He has to be kidding!_ "Like I could do something that embarrassing!" That sentence ended with a grunt, as the monster had taken its chance and moved closer to us, trying to push us over. _I am not going to say those words. If I do, I've lost Toto and Yuyu for sure, and what little I have at Asclepius will come crashing down around me._

"Please, Yayaka" Cocona's quiet voice begged. I tried to hold off. I _really_ wanted to, but hearing that voice, I knew I'd give in. _…Damn it._

"F-Flip… Flapping…" I mumbled. _Geez, it's bad enough just saying it, and he wants me to shout it as loud as I can?_

"I can't hear you!" Papika barked at me. The connection me and the Flip Flappers in the cockpit wavered. I could still feel it between them, but on my side, it'd weakened a lot.

"Shut it!" I shouted in her face. _You take Cocona away from me, and now you're trying to get me to lose what I have left?_ I was getting mad again. I wanted nothing more than to let go of my controls and smack Papika in her stupid idiot face, but my grip was locked on them. _Probably a good thing for you, Papika, you've seen how fast I am, you know if I hit you, it'll hurt…_

"Yayaka…" Cocona's gentle voice broke my thoughts and back to reality. There was a loud crack from outside. The monster had pushed us into Pop's base, and it probably wouldn't be long before it'd crumble.

_Asclepius can't be stopped if Cocona isn't there to stop it._

"Look, this is only until we take that thing out, okay?" I growled the sentence, but as I did so, felt myself filled with determination. Cocona nodded, approving.

"Bring out the war cry of your soul!" Came Pops' voice again.

_I might not be able to save the world, or even myself, but if nothing else, I can try and save Cocona!_

The warmth in the cockpit flared up again, and I felt the connection between the three of us become stronger again, although oddly I felt more connected with Papika than Cocona. _Now's not the time to think about that though._

"FLIP FLAPPING!"

It was the loudest I'd ever shouted before in my life. Cocona and Papika called out with me too, our voices as one. Blue, pink, and this time yellow, lights all flared inside the cockpit, and once again.

I didn't really know what was happening, I had my eyes closed the whole time, but there was a loud 'CLUNK!', which sounded like we'd just snapped into place.

When I opened my eyes and the light died down… well, you remember me saying it felt as solid as a mountain before? Now it felt more like a while friggin' continent, and the arms had been upgraded from houses to skyscrapers. You want an idea of how powerful I felt right then?

The monster we were all fighting that looked like it was made up of every single structure in a mile's radius? We were three times as big as it now, easy. We took a step forward, and it wobbled. A smirk crept along my face. _This is gonna be fun…_

"Great Pacoya… Take off!" Like before, our three voices were one as we spoke. We were standing further apart from each other now (Papika was also now standing between me and Cocona), but I've never felt closer to other people in my life.

"Upgrade!" we yelled. The land around us sprouted pillars of light, and the Great Pacoya felt like it was getting hotter. We were charging up for a _big_ attack. Only question was "Where should we aim?" It was a little odd to speak on my own, despite the strong connection I felt to the other two, my voice sounded oddly quiet without theirs alongside mine.

"The head!" The two of them replied together. _Right._

The monster in front of us was dripping saliva from its mouth, and its throat lit up a bright orange, preparing an attack of its own. Sparks danced around its face, before white-hot beam fired past its blood-red teeth.

I almost felt sorry for it, thinking it had a chance against the three of us.

"PACOYA NOVA!" Our view was full of yellow lightning, and then a beam of light that obliterated anything in its path… including the monster in front of us. Its head split open, fracturing, before it was vaporised. I had no idea how powerful we were exactly, but if you told me you could see the beam from space, I wouldn't be surprised. Hell, it felt like we could have taken out another planet with the force we had at our disposal.

The enemy was defeated... and although there was a large gaping crater which was once a section of the city, this world was at peace again.

I ran to find Toto and Yuyu as soon as the fight was over, I knew they'd be ready to grab the amorphous the second we won the battle. They were in the crater, along with Pops. As I got closer, I could see Yuyu ready to take the amorphous (a black prisim) as it fell through the air, and then Pops snatching it from her grasp. The twins didn't seem too happy with that. I might have been far away, but the threat in the air was clear. Thinking quickly, I decided to hop in and interupt. With my enhanced speed, I didn't have to worry about getting there before Yuyu crushed Pops' head.

"We're leaving" I said as I turned to them. Toto blinked, as if he didn't understand what I was saying. Yuyu seemed to have trouble with it too, "Making no sense."

"They're almost here. The odds are against us now." I had no idea if I could convince them to leave. I was hoping I could put enough force into my voice to get them to go. _If Cocona and Papika wanted to fight us for the amorphous... They might be able to beat us._ They were still way behind on combat experience, but that connection I felt with them back there... If they could harness that power again, and they used it against us...

I was pretty thankful that Cocona wasn't one to fight unless she really needed to. With that kinda power in her hands, she could destroy anything.

"We can steal it anytime." _Like in the real world if we had to, our rockets and Yuyu's powerfist will work there, but their powers won't. Easy win._

I had that argument ready just in case, but it wasn't needed.

"I will report this" with those words from Yuyu, I felt each one had the impact of a knife in my chest. The twins turned their backs on me and walked off.

I stood there for a moment, head bowed,before I followed them. _I've made my choice..._

I found them waiting for me near the edge of the crater. Both of them were watching me with caution, Toto didn't turn his head, or even blink, as he tossed the Hole device onto the ground and a portal opened up to take us home. It kinda hurt to look at him. Looking into those red eyes, that one trusted me, and seemed worried if I got hurt in Pure Illusion... now they seemed to despise me. He stepped through the hole without a word.

Yuyu lingered behind for a little while longer. Unlike Toto, whose gaze was unrelenting, Yuyu's flickered. Although her eyes were mostly locked on mine, they darted to the side a couple of times, and her face pulled into a slight frown. _What is she thinking?_ She turned around and left before I could ask (not that she probably would have answered anyway).

I stood there alone for what felt like a long time.

_Better get used to this... This is what things will be like from now on..._ I looked back behind me, in the slight hope that somehow one of the others would know what I was thinking, and how I wanted someone to be around me right now. There wasn't any sign of Cocona or Papika, or even Pops.

_I've made my choice..._ It was hard to tell myself that. There was no going back now. The rest of my life, full of silence and empty of friends, was all around me.

_I just hope it isn't the wrong one..._

* * *

 

_Authors note: I think I accidentally made the enemy monster a LOT bigger than it actually was in the show… oops. That wasn't quite what I meant when I Said I was thinking about a few changes in the story in places, but oh well, it's a thing now._


	13. Episode 9

I was putting on my gloves, when the alarm that signalled use of Asclepius portal room, rang through the building. _What the hell is going on? Are we under attack?_

I darted through the corridors as fast as I could to find out what was going on. The room was crowded with many Asclepius cultists at computer terminals, all wearing either white or blue hooded robes, the glowing of the screens making them look like ghosts in the room. As I was about to demand information, I saw Toto and Yuyu at the portal, in their combat gear... and a third person I'd never seen before, _and they were going to Pure Illusion without me._

_I'm not important to them anymore..._

"Stop it at once!" _This can't be happening. I have to be important; I have to be the one that goes to Pure Illusion! It needs to be_ me _up there!_

I made my way across the room to the portal. None of the guys at the computers looked up from their posts as I ran there.

"Who're you?" I angrilly asked the new kid. _And why the hell have I never seen you before? Why are you standing where I should be?_

"The third amorphous child... Her impedance with the twins is stable" the head priest's voice came from right next to me. I must have somehow missed him when I looked around the room. Even through his hood, I could tell he was looking at me with disgust. _A third amorphous child...? Where the heck did she come from?_ _This can't be happening..._

"Out of the way!" I growled. _That's my place up there!_

"You're useless now." "Not needed." The twins both said.

Their words broke my anger, and I gasped in disbelief. _No... I... I thought..._ Their words hurt. It was only five words, but I felt like I was about to shatter. Over the past few adventures we've been on in Pure Illusion, I was starting to learn more about them, and even believed that they liked me... And now they said I wasn't needed... Yuyu said she'd report how I'd acted the last time we went to Pure Illusion but... what did she say about me exactly? I felt as small and insignificant as a grain of sand on the beach.

_This is it... This is how the world ends..._

_No... It can't be like this!_

I turned to the head priest, "Give me another chance! I won't fail this time!" I roared, hopefully my anger coming across as showing enthusiasm, and hiding my desperation. _Come on, please, you have to say yes..._

In reality the silence before I got my answer was barely a second, but I felt like I was standing there for a year, just waiting for the words that would seal the fate of the world when they were uttered.

"...One last chance," came the slow response.

_...He said yes? He's actually letting me have this chance?_ I couldn't believe my ears. I wanted to punch the air and cheer, but I couldn't. _My motives have to be secret... And I need to pull this off..._

"You'd better retrieve it this time."

A smile crept along my face in relief. _Hell, yeah, I can do this!_ "I will!" I replied, sounding probably the happiest I'd felt in a long time... Only for that to come crashing down with his next words:

"Take the amorphous they have, too."

If my mood was a bird in flight, I'd just gone from soaring with delight above the clouds, to having my wing snap mid-flight.

What little hope I had left was crushed by despair, as I was given a task I didn't think I could complete.

"I know..." I said. My hands tightened into fists. _This is a thing I have to do to keep Cocona alive. I don't have a choice. I'm alone in this. Yuyu, Toto, Papika and Cocona... all I have to rely on is myself. And I can do it, because_ "My mindsend is totally unlike theirs!" _I'm different from all of them! I can do this on my own!_

Toto and Yuyu were just staring ahead the whole time, not looking at me. If they felt anything about watching these events unfold, they showed no signs of it. _I can't trust them._ No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't. The instant amorphous appeared, any command I'd have over them would be gone. _Toto and Yuyu could have disobeyed me at any time before in previous worlds, and they never have... But that didn't mean they couldn't start now... Would Asclepius threaten them to bring back amorphous too?_

It was a possibility, hell, that was probably the case. If Asclepius bought Toto and Yuyu into the world, creating them for this purpose, they could probably destroy them and make new amorphous kids... They'd created a third one after all without me knowing...

_If that was the case, could I work with them? Could we all be allies?_

I shook my head, furiously, trying to clear away my thoughts. Overthinking is a curse. _Keep Cocona safe. That's all I need to do. Just keep her safe and alive._

* * *

I didn't go to school that day. No point. Asclepius wanted amorphous, and if I wanted to stay on their good side, so they didn't capture Cocona and force her to work for them (or worse) we had to get searching, right away... Or I had to at least.

Toto and Yuyu were as quiet as ever, as we stood on this bizarre, lumpy moon, floating alone in the galaxy streaked sky. Although they were acting as they always did, I felt way more out of place than I ever had when I was with them. After having felt that powerful bond with Cocona and Papika when we piloted the Great Pacoya in Pop's world, the warmth, their presence, and all of us working together, moving so in-synch, without a single word... being with the twins right now felt... broken. I felt cold, and not just because I was wearing a space suit on an alien land. There was no real warmth between the three of us as we travelled, like, at all. I know the twins are artificial humans, but I've been with them for so long now, and I've gotten to know them recently, it was hard for me to believe they really were artificial... until now.

Having begun to think of them as real people, wanting to show them things other kids did, that wasn't just school, or something like that... and now it hit me just how... Is it ironic that the artificial humans at Asclepius felt more human to me than the real ones there?

Well... either way, that thought was just kinda gone with the others. _Toto and Yuyu are probably as close to human robots following their programming as it can get..._

_UGH!_ I shook my head again, like a dog trying to dry itself. _What the hell is wrong with me? Can I just have a second of peace from thinking like this?!_

_Amorphous! Need to find amorphous!_

We all searched for a long time. I know the twins hardly emoted at the best of times, but I felt like I was putting in fifty times more effort than them right now... Okay, that wasn't what I felt, it's exactly what I was doing. I had to take my mind off this whole stupid messed up situation _somehow,_ and the only thing to do around here beyond thinking, was to search. I dug up dusty land, I punched some stalagmites over... (Toto and Yuyu eventually stopped physically searching themselves and just stood there. Whether they kept watch, or whether Toto was using his eyepiece to scan, I don't know) I ran all around, tired myself out, then ran around more, absolutely deserpate to find something, _anything,_ I could bring back to Asclepius, in the hopes that if I bought something back before Cocona and Papika were sent back into Pure Illusion, that maybe Asclepius might forgive me, or leave me alone or something...

...No such luck. I swear, I've covered this whole moon at least twice by now, and there was nothing here.

"Damn it!" I cursed, punching the ground, "This one's a bust, too!" _Just my luck..._

Behind me, one of the twins' space suits beeped. "Signals detected." It was kinda hard to tell who was speaking, their voices were distorted by all of our equipment.

"Cocona and Papika?" _Oh man, I wasn't planning on running into them so soon..._

"Confirming coordinates" was the only reply I got, speaking as if I'd never talked. It answered my question, but the fact I wasn't being spoken to directly was disheartening. _What should I expect though, when the whole world's against me?_

A Hole device was thrown on the floor, creating a shiny black portal to wherever Cocona and Papika were. "The amorphous is sure to be wherever they are..." I said out loud, trying to sound determined. Reality was I wanted nothing more than to just run. Run away, and never return...

"This is your last chance" the reminder was simple and monotone, but so very ominous. Although all I've been able to think about lately was the situation I was in, those words hit me with just how _final_ this was. _Whatever happens today, something will come to an end._

Just what, exactly, I didn't know, but the thought filled me with dread. I swallowed hard, before forcing myself to hop into the Hole.

* * *

After checking I'd land on solid ground, the first thing I did was ditch my space suit. I know Asclepius made them all the same for the three of us (Yuyu's gauntlet was kept compact in her backpack, Toto helped her with it as soon as they arrived here) but, _man_ , those things were claustrophobic. Heavy too. Okay, maybe they were heavier here because gravity was back to normal, rather than the floating feeling I had whenever I took a step in that moon world, but I don't care. I wasn't enclosed in, like, 10 different kinds of materials, I was in my combat gear, and I could move around quickly and freely, just how I liked it...

This place would have been pretty perfect for that sort of thing, not just because the gravity was right either, this area was just a huge, empty expanse. The... sky? ceiling? Whatever it was above us, was a black grid amongst a white sky. The horizon was white and hazy, and the land, clouded like marble, and also pretty reflective.

I don't think I've been in a place in Pure Illusion that was quite so... open as this one. There were no trees, no rocks, no buildings, nothing. No obstacles at all, just... flat land. Pure, and undisturbed.

I know I've been terrified of half of everything in Pure Illusion before, but this place... something about it felt unsettling to me. Looking down at the ground, I saw the purple eyes of my reflection looking back up at me... _as bright as the flowers outside the hospital when I met Cocona..._

_Waves of pink and red begonias sat in the flowerbeds all through the gardens. Maybe it was just the excitement at having found a new friend, but it felt like the most beautiful place in the world right then... even if the place was pretty similar to Asclepius. Full of doctors, people in lab coats, all sorts of experiments or surgeries going on..._

_But ducked down behind the flowers, it felt like we were in a different place. In another world... One of many I'd see in my lifetime._

_We spoke for hours there, or it felt like hours at least. Not in a bad way... it was the first real time I remember feeling happy, or at peace with myself. Just me and her... both sat on the ground, in this little maze of greenery. Her eyes, the colour of tree bark then, and her mop of blue hair, it looked like she belonged here... Originally, I wanted to make a break for it, as soon as the coast was clear, but Cocona seemed hesitant. Scared to leave. I tried to reassure her it'd be fine and shot her a crooked grin, but she didn't seem too convinced of that. Instead, she asked me something._

_"Do you want to hear a story?"_

_I was pretty dumbfounded by her question. She didn't really wait for an answer and instead began to talk._

_It was the story of a knight who was banished from his kingdom and went on an adventure by himself. It sounded like any basic old story, but something about Cocona... the more she spoke, the more her face lit up, the bigger her gestures got, and the happier she sounded. It wasn't long before I found myself enraptured by the tale. The knight had met many friends (I pictured mosty as Cocona in different costumes... I don't know that many friendly people), and many enemies (all of them were Asclepius guys), and travelled through so many lands. Craggy mountains, lush rainforests, a marsh wreathed in mist... At times, he was completely alone, and at others, he'd come across a friendly fairy or a wizard who'd cast a spell and help him through, and finally, the knight came to a monster's den. He slew all the beasts that were terrorising the land, and he was welcomed at the next town he visited as a hero._

_I wanted to hear more._

_She told another tale, this time about two children who were abandoned by their parents, and wandered a forest alone until they came across a house made of candy, that was occupied by a witch. I later learned that one was Hansel and Gretel. The two children teamed up to trick the witch and cook her in her own oven. In my head, I was Hansel and Cocona was Gretel, and the witch? The head priest of Asclepius._

_The way she told that one... she'd sounded sad about the parents abandoning the children._

_"Why?" I asked._

_"Because I've never known my parents. That's probably what happened to me..." She said this with a shrug, and looked so downfallen. It felt like my heart twisted when she said that. I was about to say how she had her grandma though, when I remembered... She was one of Asclepius..._

_And so was I..._

_I began to feel pretty sad myself. How could I do this to her? I was told to go and be her friend, and I want to be. I_ really _want to be... but... Asclepius want me to do it. I'm pretty sure they wanted it to be that way for a bad reason. I was meant to drag Cocona into the only world I knew..._

_I couldn't do that to her._

_"I don't have a family either..." I said. Conversation died at that moment, and it was quiet for a long time. Sunlight dappled everything around us, making it look like the pink flowers were bobbing and dancing... I wanted to look up at them again, something about them didn't seem right, when Cocona broke the silence again._

_"Want to play a game?"-_

"Amorphous found" Toto's voice suddenly bought me back to reality. I broke eye contact with my reflection in the floor, to see Yuyu jump high into the air. Toto activated his rocket pack and shot forward, after her. I ran to catch up with them. _I can't let them hurt Cocona._

I was just about in time to see Yuyu divebomb the Flip Flappers (both of them were transformed), and the ground cracking into a crater, sending a tiny glowing shard flying. _The amorphous!_ I couldn't believe it was just sitting out in the open like that. _Where else could it be though? There's nothing here..._

Toto and I landed, not long after Yuyu made her impact. Once again, I found myself staring at the ground. I couldn't look at Cocona. I didn't want to see the look in her eyes when she found out the truth about me. She was bound to find out at this rate at least, I just couldn't bear to think about it.

"Yayaka! You're okay!" As nice as it was, to hear how concerned she was about me, all I could feel was guilt, as if it were a knife blade that'd been twisted in my body. _I don't deserve you..._ "I was worried since you haven't been at school-"

"I keep telling you, you're too soft." _Don't get attached to me... not any more than you already are. It's just going to make it more painful when you find out._

She recoiled as I spoke. _That's how you should be acting around me. I've betrayed you, and all you've shown me is kindness... Just turn me away, now, it'll hurt a lot less..._

"I asked if you were prepared for what this entails, didn't I?" my voice came out slow, and cold, as if icicles were hanging from my every word. _You need to stop caring about me, right now. You're going to need to fight. You can't be soft when you're fighting._

Cocona looked stunned for a moment, before gathering her nerve and replying with determination "I am." Before I could say another word to her, with a quick pivot, she kicked a foot against the ground and flew away from me. Toto and Yuyu were quick to pursue her. The three of them (and Papika's yellow robot which I hadn't seen for quite a while. How can that thing even come to Pure Illusion?) all dived for the amorphous. One of them had definitely managed to grab it, I knew that much. Not a clue who it was though, things happened too fast for me to see.

The cloudy marble shapes on the floor suddenly wiggled and rose. Rather than looking like a sheet of stone, or rising liquid, the ground around them suddenly appeared as if it was made of noodles, as if they'd stumbled into a den of snakes, all of them ready to attack these intruders in their lair. The strands whipped around, enclosing them all in a strange cocoon.

_The amorphous' trap..._

Cocona was in there, enclosed.

Locked away.

With the twins. The people who'd have no problem in attacking her for the amorphous. _But at least it wouldn't be me that would have to hurt her... not physically at least... Man, I hope you meant what you said Cocona, you could be in for the hell of a fight..._

"Cocona!" The cyan-haired idiot's voice broke into my thoughts. My hands began shake from the tension that suddenly sprang to my fists. _This is all your fault..._ Anger, once again, started to slowly fill me. I turned and faced her, giving an unyeilding glare, standing between her and the cocoon.

"We have to help Cocona!" Papika said, trying to plead with me. _Trust me, Papika, I friggin' know... It's the only thought that's been on my mind for the past few days..._ Her stating the obvious to me like that just painted her in another coat of stupidity in my eyes.

"The twins will deal with the defense trap," I said, trying to drive her away. _Please, for sugar's sake, just leave. Go! You can mess everything up! Don't you see I have to do this? I need to keep working for Asclepius, otherwise they're gonna take_ her. _Neither of us are gonna like that. If they take her, not only is Cocona gone, but we can kiss the world goodbye too. You haven't seen their armies, you haven't seen what they can do. I don't want Cocona to get hurt any more than you do, I really don't, but it might have to happen this time, if it means Asclepius will leave her alone..._

"But-" Papika's stupid puppy eyes and voice were _really_ getting on my nerves. I growled, and let out a yell as I charged her with a kick to the chest.

I managed to hit her with a lot more strength than I would have thought I had, knocking her back quite a way. It didn't look like I'd hurt her though, she'd managed to conjure up a blue gooey shield in the palm of her hands, a couple of stray blue blobs floated in the air near her. She looked at me with a snarl on her face, teeth gritted.

_Nice try at being threatening, puppy-dog, but it ain't gonna shift me._ "Hand over the amorphous you have!" _It'll be a lot easier in the long run, trust me! I'm not a bad guy, I just have to play the part so you and Cocona can win!_

_...I'm decieving Asclepius as much as I'm decieving Cocona..._

My hands, which were shaking before, lashed out with a couple of punches, followed by a few swift kicks, no longer able to contain the rage that'd been building in me.

"I said hand it over!" I yelled, as Papika began to deflect my attacks with her scaled shoulder shields. _Fight me! Go on! Beat me up! I deserve it!_ Flailing and thrashing, I kept firing off kicks against her, trying to get past her shield. _Why won't you fight back?!_

"No! Our wishes won't come true without it!"

_Oh yeah? And what would you wish for, you stupid kid? It won't matter, Asclepius will take it away from you when they find out where your base is. Hell, I can help them with that. Cocona I care about. But you? You're just the one who took her away from me. Everything else has been taken away from me, my shot at an ordinary life, my best friend, my only allies..._

I was still between Papika and the cocoon where Cocona and the twins were trapped. As long as I could stand between that, I could try and stop this.

"Cocona..." Papika looked and sounded as lost as I felt back when I was alone in Pure Illusion with only the occasional false Cocona for company. _But now I know what I'm doing..._

_I'm doing that's best for both of us, whether you like it or not._

I have no idea how I was calm enough to throw my next offer out there. "So, what'll it be?" I asked, raising a fist, ready to attack again. _Just agree to hand them over, it'll be the best thing in the long run. If you don't hand them over, you're begging for Asclepius to come after Cocona..._

Papika hesitated. Her troubled thoughts were written all over her face. It looked like she was about to give in. _Good girl..._

"Run away!" She set off as quickly as she could, with those words, and left me far behind in a matter of seconds. I was so shocked by her reaction that all I could do was just stand for a little while before my brain registered what the hell just happened.

"Hey!" Much like Toto and Yuyu not long before me, I gave chase, activting my speed enhancer.

It wasn't too difficult to catch up to her, but eventually we ended up moving at the same pace, neither of us speeding up or slowing down, and neither of us gonna stop any time soon. I debated shooting some rockets at her, but she was looking behind, at me, the whole time. She didn't have to worry about obstacles after all, this world was an empty expanse of white. Anything I sent her way would have been delfected easilly. Same for my grappling wires, either she'd be out of range by the time I shot them, or I'd end up tangling myself rather than her because of the sheer speed we were both moving at...

We ran like that for quite a while, occasionally taunting each other, but eventually, we both began to wind down. It wasn't too long until both of us were forced to walk. My legs were heavy, feeling as if each step I was trying to drag a bunch of weights with me as I tried to push forward. My breathing was also pretty ragged and heavy from overexerting myself... At the time, I didn't care about that though. _I need to keep... Papika away... from Cocona..._

Looking ahead of me, Papika had slowed down considerably, just as tired as I was. She was slumped over as she made herself walk, I could hear her panting from here.

"How long are you... gonna run?" _Why did I talk?_ Talking kinda hurt, my throat felt a bit raw from running so much earlier trying to keep up with her.

"Until you stop... Chasing me..." Papika said, downtrodden.

"Hang on... Time out..." I was begining to feel pretty delirious.

"I'm hungry..." Papika stated, before she wavered, and with her next step, she collapsed to the ground.

About a second later, my legs gave out on me, and I, too, crumpled.

Lying on my back, all I could think was _is this really worth it?_ I was trying to catch my breath, but Papika having mentioned food made me realise, I was pretty darn hungry myself. Did I have any food on me?

Papika sniffed loudly before sadly saying "I don't smell anything..."

Meanwhile, I was rooting around in my pockets, and by some miracle, managed to find food. It wasn't cream bread, and I'm not gonna lie, a part of me was pretty disappointed about that, but it was still food. Asclepius provided me, Toto and Yuyu with special ration bars (the twins didn't need them, but they carried them for me). They're packed with a crazy amount of nutrition considering their small size, they're pretty much the only thing Asclepius was willing to give me in terms of food (For adventures into Pure Illusion or otherwise), and they taste like crap. Where did I find cream bread, you may be asking? I took it from the head priest's desk a couple of times when he wasn't looking. Just small amounts, but oh, _man_ , that stuff is heavenly. The only other times I'd had food that wasn't just rations was whenever I saw Cocona, until Asclepius decided to give me a small allowence to help keep up with the illusion I was just a normal kid (and yes, most of it _was_ spent on cream bread.)

It sucked that right now, that all I had was just a stupid Asclepius ration, but I was so hungry I didn't care. That and I could probably have some fun messing with Papika too. _I might as well after all, this could be the last time I have fun for a while._

"Aahhhh" I made sure I was loud and obvious about having food, since Papika clearly couldn't smell it (I didn't even know if it had a smell, if it did, I was probably so damn used to it I didn't even notice any more) although whether that's because this thing didn't smell at all, or whether her nose wasn't working right from being so tired, I don't know. I got her attention though.

She was pretty fast, I'll give her that, but I was faster. Her hands darted and jabbed forwards, in attempts to steal my food. She was far too obvious which way she was gonna go next. Waving my hand around, Papika flailed, trying to grab my ration. I let myself smirk as I put it back in a pocket.

"I don't mind trading it for the amorphous" I said with a shrug, teasing her. She could probably take them back from me easy, assuming the food was enough to power her up again, but I doubted she'd even think of that. I liked to think the river of drool spilling from her mouth was evidence the cyan-haired idiot, indeed, wouldn't think about that.

"The answer's still no!" Papika said, wiping the dribbling stream from her mouth. Her eyes were closed tight, trying to avoid the temptation of food... She was peeking though.

"Is that so?" I asked, pulling the ration back out of my pocket, wiggling it around in my hands. Papika's pink eyes went wide. I had her full attention.

I took a big bite from the ration bar. It didn't taste all that great, but it _was_ pretty energising, and I felt better after managing to swallow some. "Man, this is good" a complete lie of course, I was trying to force myself to ignore the unappealing, dry and flaky texture, but for the look on Papika's face, all puffed up, and staring at my food longingly? It was worth it, and the smile it bought to my face helped keep up the act that the food was much tastier than it actually was.

...And that was when Papika collapsed.

_Was she feeling worse than I thought?_ Although I didn't like her too much, seeing her on the ground, not moving, was pretty worrying, the contrast between what a bundle of energy she was compared to now, was huge.

I got up and nudged her with my foot and waited. No response. "Hey," _you're not actually dead are you?_

I got a bit closer-

"FOOD!" she cried, before leaping up suddenly.

Damn, she was fast! ...And also pretty deserpate for food, in her eagerness to steal mine, she was pretty much eating my hand.

"Stop it! Lemme go!" I tried to shake her off, but man, she was _not_ budging. I know that police dogs were trained to latch onto someone and never let go, and that I often compared Papika to a dog, or a puppy at least, but this is ridiculous. Was she raised in the friggin' wild or something?

I felt the wrapper of the Asclepius ration empty of its contents, and finally, my hand was released. My glove was soaked in drool. _Gross._ I'm gonna need to wash this as soon as I had the chance.

Papika sighed contentedly, having eaten and sat on the ground, looking at her reflection in the marble-like ground. She looked... defeated. I've never really seen her like that before. Although I was pretty weirded out by the fact she seemed pretty happy to go ahead and eat my hand in an attempt to steal my food, I found myself unwilling to taunt her any more.

She wasn't attacking me, like I would have expected her to. She just... sat. Part of me wanted to be mad at her, but, I guess I was just too tired at the moment. I ended up sitting too, behind her, so we were back to back.

Like before, when we were fighting in the mecha in the previous world, I felt a bit of a connection to her as I sat there. A little bit of warmth too. This world wasn't cold, but it wasn't warm either. There didn't really seem to be a temperature here at all, but the gentle heat from Papika's body... it felt kinda nice.

I looked out at the world ahead of me, even though there were no real landmarks in this place beyond the cocoon Cocona and the twins were trapped in. It made me think a little of the white room I visited with Yuya/Mimi in the alternate world, the one with the musical instruments in it, but... bigger. Far bigger. Endless.

Something about this place... It reminded me of... me. Being here, I felt a little lost. If I went in any direction, I didn't know if I'd ever get back to the same point, or I could pass it a million times, and not even notice. _No matter which way I went, I'd never get anywhere..._

"What am I even doing with my life?" I sighed, thinking out loud. "Asclepius might have taken me from the orphanage, but they're the reason we're all in this mess in the first place... I don't want to be a part of it anymore, but it's pretty much all I know. Cocona's told me stories, shown me movies, we've hung out after school, and played games... My time with her was as close to a normal childhood as I ever got...

"And the twins... I know they're not exactly normal, and they were just made to get the amorphous, but... I want them to experience all those things, like I did. They've been with me and kept me safe for all these years, and I never really payed attention to them until a little while ago... Asclepius created two kids like me, _real human beings,_ and just shoved us all into the same situation. 'Get the amorphous, so we can rule the world'. Toto and Yuyu never even got a _chance_ to be real kids.

"We're stuck. All three of us. If we don't come back with the amorphous this time, _all_ of them, they'll kick me out, the twins will still be stuck, and they'll take Cocona... I can't let that happen..."

My voice was barely above a whisper at that last part. It felt like the world around me had faded and disappeared in the time I was lost in my thoughts.

"Let's save Cocona!" I forgot Papika was sitting against me, until she spoke up. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw her grinning at me.

"Weren't you listening to me? I need the amorphous... I need them before I can even _think_ about saving Cocona" the words hurt to say, the realisation I was cosidering some shiny stones that supposedly held power, against the life of my best friend, but this was the best way to keep her safe. Toto and Yuyu were stuck with Cocona in that cocoon thing, if I didn't get the amorphous now, she'd be held ransom in exchange for them. There's two of them against Papika, it'll be easy for one of them to keep her busy while the other threatens Cocona... And even then there'd be no guarentee of Cocona's safety.

"We really should save Cocona first!" repeating her first point, Papika seemed pretty adamant that nothing in the world mattered at the moment but Cocona. She wasn't wrong, Cocona was damn important, probably even the most important person in the world, the only one who could save it, but to do that, she'd need to be as far away from Asclepius as possible...

"How many times do I have to tell you, amporphous first?" _Geez, Cocona has to have the patience of a saint, how the hell does she deal with Papika?_ I was getting mad again. "If I get the amorphous, I can keep her safe, and I promise you, I'll try my hardest to keep that promise. If Asclepius have the amorphous, they won't go after Cocona" _I hope..._

"But if we get Cocona first, she'll be safe!" At first I was surprised because Papika had moved away from me, taking her warmth away with her, I thought I was about to fall backwards until I felt her hands on my shoulders. "We need to help her!"

I slapped her hands away, and just as I did so, the cocoon behind us started to spasm. The strands of marble flicking and warping, pulsing, as if something we'd said upset it.

"What's going on?" _Can it sense us? Does it have a life of its own? Or are Cocona and the twins making it react from the inside? Are they fighting?_

"Cocona!" Papika cried with worry. I wasn't looking at her, having let down my guard, I guess I should be happy she didn't take the chance and attack me, but still, her declaration of "I have to save Cocona!" as she flew past me, almost threw me off completely.

Almost.

Papika wasn't looking at me now. Taking my chance, I shot my grappling wires at her to pull her towards me. Between anger and concern, the former emotion was starting to win out in me, and I wrapped one arm around Papika's shoulder, and the other around her neck. _Listen to me, you damned idiot!_ "I said no!" _Do you have any idea what you're doing?!_

"Aren't you worried about her?" Papika's voice was a little strained as she tried to speak against my arm pressing on her throat. I didn't tighten my grip or anything, as stupid and frustrating to me as Papika was, I didn't really want to kill her, but how the heck else am I meant to get the message into her head: "The amorphous takes priority!" _Of course it hurts me, knowing Cocona's trapped in there with two potential enemies! Anything can be happening in there, and we won't know. She could be trying to fight the twins,_ solo _, right now, and if she can't handle it, they'll quite gladly take her back to base, if they haven't already used a Hole device to escape. If you just say you'll give me the amorphous, they won't hurt her!_

"Cocona's more important!"

"Shut up!" _I KNOW SHE IS! She's the only person, the only_ thing _, that's made my life bearable, and I'm trying to save her in doing this!_

"Her voice, her scent, and how she's so nice deep down..." Papika said all of this, while trying to wriggle out of my grasp. I tried to pull her closer to me, but it wasn't easy.

"I love everything about her!"

She said that to me, and I completely understood how she felt... and it made me furious. _Because it looks like she's chosen you._ I twisted Papika around, and drove a hard kick into her back, sending her away. My body was shaking with fury. The blood my heart was pumping through my body felt so hot it was boiling, or like it may as well have been lava...

"You just showed up, like, yesterday. What do you know about Cocona?! I've been with her since _way_ before you met her!" _I was there first!_

Papika approached the cocoon, and began knocking on it with her fist calling for Cocona, while I stood and watched. I was panting heavilly, trying to calm down.

Didn't work.

"With such a weak mindset... You don't deserve to be by Cocona's side!" I launched myself at her, making about as big a crater in the ground as Yuyu's gauntlet did earlier, as I aimed another kick at her back. Man, that felt _good..._ Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything else, although most of my anger had faded from me, with that one satisfying hit, the cocoon's... roots, I guess? its roots started to shake. Sensing the danger, I got out of there as fast as I could, and I watched as Papika continued to call Cocona's name, as the strands wrapped around, eventually enclosing her.

_...What am I doing?_ I had no idea what was going on in there, but with Papika being swallowed by the cocoon too... I think the adrenaline had finally gone from my body, and I felt like my legs were gonna give out from under me. My fists, which were tight with tension a few seconds before, found themselves loose, and my hands hung limply at my side. It felt like any, and all, hope I'd had at all was gone in that moment...

I heard a single crack come from the stone strands of the cocoon, a mere instant before it lit up gold, and completely fragmented. Soon, it was nothing but shattered shards of cloudy white on the floor, which soon disappeared, leaving the land flat and endless again.

Papika and Cocona, ran to each other the moment they were freed from their prison, holding hands and twining their fingers together, their delight at seeing each other again completely unhidden. Cocona was untransformed, so no fighting had happened in there, which was a momentary relief to me...

But the way those two smiled as they looked into the others eyes... there was so much love there. Love I could only dream of... Watching those two... I felt like someone had ripped my heart from my chest and stomped on it repeatedly.

_I felt important when I was given my very first mission for Asclepius, to befriend Cocona. I was praised for probably the first time since I'd been there... maybe even the only time. I guess that was fair, I mean, I did try and run away from them when I met Cocona, and then they put the tracker in my arm... Not that I knew that's what they did at the time, I thought it was just another blood test..._

_They told me to keep an eye on her, something I was pretty glad to do. "Next to her is where you belong." That's what Asclepius told me at the time._

_'Where I belong?' I thought. I couldn't believe my ears. I had a friend! And I could see her again, and she could tell me more stories, and play with me! I could be the knight that would save her from anyone who was mean to her!_

_...I really wanted to be the one that would save her from any trouble she came across..._

But looking at Papika and Cocona now, they both suddenly seemed a bit shy at their show of affection, and just looked at each other, their eyes shining, as they held hands... _Cocona has found her knight... and it's not me..._

"Take the amorphous from Cocona-oneechan" Yuyu's robotic voice came from behind me. I'd forgotten about the twins completely.

"Or lose your place again" came Toto's voice, when I refused to move. Heck, I'd lost all the will to move. _Cocona's chosen Papika... She was meant to be mine..._

I sighed. "I know..." Nothing happened like I hoped it would. It was just how life went. Things happen, whether you want them to or not...

I forced myself forwards. _I need to take the amorphous._ My feelings were probably written all over my face as I approached Papika and Cocona. Both of them turned to me, ready to fight. At any other time, I would have wanted to praise the two of them for that kind of thinking, but right now?

Everything could go to hell as far as I was concerned. Cocona's chosen Papika over me. What did I have any more?

_Nothing... And it's all because of_ her _!_

I shot my grappling wires at Papika. _You ruined everything!_ She set up another bubbly barrier to defend herself from me, and although it blocked any main impact my attack would have had, it did nothing to prevent her from being wrapped up. _Good._ Grabbing the wires tight, I whipped them up and around, sending a helpless Papika on a collision course for the ground. She was going at quite a speed, but she wasn't dead. _Her powers and her thick skull would make sure of that..._

"Papika!" Cocona cried the cyan-haired girl's name in worry... before she turned to me. A smoldering dislike in her eyes, quickly becoming flames of anger.

"Cocona!" I called a challenge to her. All of a sudden, blue crystal rose up from the ground behind me, enclosing the both of us in a segmented dome. I wasn't really sure what was going on there, normally in Pure Illusion the people reacted to the world, but here? Here the world seemed to react to the people.

"Transform" I told her.

She refused.

I shot a grappling wire at her, and it left a dripping red scratch on her cheek.

"Didn't you say you were prepared?" _Now you have to prove it. I have years of experience in Pure Illusion. There's no way you can defeat the whole of Asclepius and save the world, if you can't defeat me._

The lighting in here gave her eyes a yellow-green glow to them, like sunlight on fresh spring grass, and her blue hair was the colour of the sky. _How do you see me now? Am I a friend? Or am I an enemy?_

A quiet "Flip Flapping" from Cocona's lips was my answer, as light flared around her, and the sky-blue hair was swallowed by a sunset, and the grass coloured eyes became sharp icicles, aimed at me.

The moment she was done, I charged her, a blur of speed hopping around, so she'd have no idea where my attack would be coming from.

She was careful though, watchful. Cocona didn't summon her giant blade until I was barely feet away, and she caught my kick against the flat of her sword.

Backflipping in retreat, I landed on the sapphire ground, to see my earlier theory about this world was correct, and this world was definitely reacting to me. The last thing I would have thought I'd found myself doing today was to end up fighting the person who meant the most to me, and the inside of this place reflected that. All along the inside of the dome were many uneven panels, before, they mirrored the two fighters within... and now, as if someone had changed the channel on a TV, I saw my own young face looking down at me from every angle.

Cocona looked around at the walls, startled by the sudden change. _Bad idea._ I was already running to her again, trying to ignore the images around us, as it went from young me standing on my own, to walking home from school with Cocona, laughing at something she'd just told me.

I kept lashing out with a barrage of kicks, all of which were deflected by Cocona's sword. _Does she really want to fight me?_ She'd transformed, so I figured that must have been the case, but all she did was block my attacks. _You softie..._ _That attitude could get you killed!_

The images on the walls changed again, rapidly sifting through memories I had of the two of us together, playing with a cat, me about to steal some of Cocona's cream bread, the two of us with a couple of classmates from the previous year in school...all the while, sparks were flying as my steel-bottomed boots struck Cocona's scaled blade.

"Stop it already, Yayaka!" Cocona's ice-like eyes looked like they were beginning to melt. I barely heard her though. My blood was roaring in my ears, and my eyes were darting around wildly. Originally, seeing the memories up on the walls didn't bother me, but the longer they stayed up there, the more I could only think of how she wasn't mine. I shot a wire, destroying one of them.

The scenes around us changed, showing Cocona holding a glass jar filled with flowers I'd picked for her, surprised at my gesture. I'd picked one out and was holding it in my hands as I grinned at her. Looking back on it, I realised I was being pretty dumb about my own actions before. _Even back then..._ I told Papika my true feelings for Cocona earlier in this world, but even as I looked up at the evidence around me, I still found it hard to admit... I became furious with myself.

I kicked out at the walls, no longer fighting Cocona, shattering the images, trying to destroy all these reminders of the person I could never have. _I was told I belonged at your side!_

Small blue shards flew through the air, as I destroyed memory after memory of the two of us together. _We were meant to be a team!_

My anger only grew, as slowly, all the images that displayed the two of us became ones of Papika and Cocona. _THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!_

One final kick, right in the pink-haired idiot's stupid face, was all it took to shatter the sapphire dome. A rain of crystal fell around us, clinking as it began to lay scattered on the marble ground. I was breathing heavilly, trying to calm myself down... It didn't do me any good. I could see the real Papika looking at me when the blue prison was destroyed, her blue eyes were frightened, as she looked at me. That was about all she could do before I charged and targeted her with another kick, knocking her back, the scaled sword flying from her hands...

_Wait, Papika doesn't have a sword..._

As I wondered what was going on, the person I thought was Papika de-transformed mid air, and Cocona hit the ground, unconcious, the amorphous she'd obtained earlier, clattering next to her before it finally stopped moving.

I could only stand and stare in disbelief. _I... I just hit Cocona..._

All I could feel was regret. I hadn't meant to hit her, not like that... _But weren't we fighting earlier? Wasn't I trying to get her to attack me?_

_...And she never did._

The whole time we fought, every move she made was defensive. Cocona was kind and gentle. No matter how quickly, or how harshly, I tried to strike her, never once did she take the offensive.

In my anger over it looking like Cocona had chosen Papika over me, and Papika herself appearing and messing up everything I knew, I wasn't thinking right. I hadn't thought twice before about if I'd actually caused Cocona any pain...

And here she was, knocked out, lying prone, defenseless in front of me.

_I am the reason she's in this state right now._

_She never fought back._

To say I felt like shit was an understatement.

I saw Toto standing nearby, with Yuyu kneeling nearby, holding the real Papika down, both of them watching my every move. Suddenly, the threat of Asclepius loomed over me again.

My eyes fell on the amorphous on the ground, and slowly, I picked it up. _I'm sorry..._ _I'm doing this for you. If I don't take this, they'll come after you... And they'll hurt you... worse than I ever did._

_...I hurt you..._

I clenched my hand right over the amorphous, feeling the jagged points digging through my gloves. I was ready to leave when I heard Yuyu's voice "There's another one"

That was when I caught sight of the birthmark on Cocona's thigh. I'd seen it a couple of times before when we were younger, but now...

I thought back to when Cocona transformed to fight me. I could swear the light the surrounded her originated from a point on her thigh... And what was it that the twins told me? 'They both have amorphous in them'?

_Asclepius will want all of the amorphous._

Another thought hit me.

_If Cocona was carrying an armophous in her all along, they would come after her, no matter what I did..._

_Was everything I did for nothing?_ I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

_I just wanted to keep you safe..._

_But... maybe if I do this, they'll leave you alone._

I knelt down beside Cocona and drew a knife from my belt.

_I have to do this._

"Yayaka! Don't!" Papika begged. I ignored her. _If I can remove it, Asclepius won't target her any more._ The blade of the knife shone as I pressed it so the tip hovered above the birthmark, before raising it, ready to cut down...

And then my eyes flicked to Cocona's face. The look on her face was peaceful. She didn't have a clue what was going on right now. _Would she wake up if she felt the knife?_

_...Could I hurt her again?_

My hand began to shake. I tried to tighten my grip on the knife and moved the blade downwards, with gritted teeth...

_She ran with me in the hospital. We sat amongst the flowers in the garden.. When she had to leave, she proudly told her grandmother she'd made a friend, with a smile that shone like the sun..._

Growling now, I tried to focus on the task at hand.

_We played with a neighbourhood cat... She bought me cream bread... Ever since the hopsital, she'd tell me all sorts of wonderful stories, about heroes and villains, in all of these exotic worlds. I made her laugh so much when I acted out fighting the slime monster on the volcano..._

I have no idea how I'd held onto the knife as long as I did with my hand trembling as badly as it was. Cocona's eyes were closed, her hair a blue fan behind her head...

_I can't do it._

"Damn it!" I cursed, slamming my fist (still wrapped around the knife) against the ground, repeatedly.

_I've hurt her enough. She's the last person in the world that deserves any of this..._

I wanted to cry. _What kind of despicable person am I?_

"The weak mindset..." "...Is Yayaka's!"

_The twins!_

I'd forgotten about them completely and was suddenly filled with dread. Twisting to look above me, I saw Toto in the air. No doubt Yuyu was making a move too.

The twins attacked and time slowed down. I was moving as quickly as I could, and even though I was blessed with my high speed in the first place, I felt like I was moving an inch an hour. The first thing I did was let go of the amorphous. It fell away from me in slow motion.

That didn't matter now. _It never mattered._

I wrapped my arms around Cocona, pulling her close to me, and tried to cover her body with my own as well as I could. _She never fought back._ A thousand words rushed through my mind, all the things I wanted to tell her... _All the things I never said..._

Her hair was soft against my cheek, as I cradled her head close to mine, desperate to protect her as best as I could.

_I'm sorry, Cocona, for everything I've done. I understand if you don't forgive me..._

I could hear the flame trails hissing from Toto's rockets as they got closer. I'd never been hit by them before, so I didn't know if my combat gear would be enough to save both of us... _But if it was enough to save Cocona, that's all that matters. Was there time for final words?_

"You softie..." _...I love you._

The last thing I remember was being hit by Yuyu's fist, followed by a storm of rockets, trying to cradle Cocona in my arms.

* * *

_Authors note:_ _I'm not quite sure if Yayaka's thoughts and actions worked well together this chapter, I feel they got a bit out of hand... or her thoughts at least. Sorry if that didn't quite make sense._


	14. Episode 10

_Authors note: I've read online that some people thought Flip Flappers seemed to be pretty slow to start in terms of plot, and then the last few episodes seemed to be stuffed to the brim with it. That never bothered me at all when I watched the show, but adapting the anime into written word from another character's POV? Yeah, I can understand now why some people couldn't get along with that. I feel this chapter, and ones beyond this point, may get a little messy because of it, so fair warning now. Thanks for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy the story._

* * *

Drifting in and out of conciousness... My body was wracked with pain, and I was basically immobalised. The most I could feel was that my back was against something and I was lying down. I thought I could hear voices too, unfamiliar ones. I could barely see, but I vaguely remember seeing a tall guy with shades saying something about getting me out of here as soon as they could...

That was about all I could register before I blacked out from the pain again.

I vaguely remember waking up a couple more times after hearing that first thing, but I never really remembered any of it. Beyond that, my first two thoughts were these: one, that my limbs were heavy, and everything hurt.

The second thing, was that I wasn't dead. Looking to my right, I could see Cocona, which meant there was no possible way this place was Hell. As for this place being Heaven? ... I doubted I'd ever be lucky enough to make it there. Although I was lucky in one thing: I was alive, and I wasn't in the Asclepius building, the walls here were far too grey. Cocona hadn't been captured, or at least Asclepius haven't gotten their hands on her...

...Yet.

It was bound to happen though, and after my most recent failure, it was only a matter of time. We probably didn't have too long left before she'd come under attack.

Although I was pretty certain I was in the Flip Flap building, I wanted to ask Cocona where we were exactly. This couldn't have been an ordinary hospital... No hospital would ever have... whatever Cocona was tending to. Well, she was holding a watering can, and currently taking care of a plant, that was a pretty normal sight I guess, but that plant pot...

"What is that creepy thing?" Well, I could make it out a little, some kind of demented robot head. The eyes were popping out (one of them leaking water, as if it were crying) and they stared around the room. Big blocky teeth sat in its mouth, which looked like it was caught in a permanent grimace. Actually, now I think about it, it'd probably be an accurate, if cartoony, representation of the pain I felt right now.

"Yayaka! Thank goodness!" Cocona turned away from the creepy robot and looked over at me, the delighted little smile on her face lighting up the otherwise dull room. Despite everything hurting, feeling like fire shoothing through my face, I managed to return her smile, although mine was a lot smaller than hers. It swiftly changed into a wince, as I tried to get myself to sit up, trying to ignore the aches that pulsed through my arms. When I blinked I noticed that only one of my eyes had closed, and there was a light pressure over the other. _An eyepatch._ _Is this gonna be permanent?_

"You can't get up yet!" Cocona scolded, turning her full attention to me. I ignored her.

"Doesn't the sunglasses dude want me out?" _besides, the sooner I get out, the better it'll be for you. If I hang around too long Aslcepius is going to find your base for certain._

"I'll ask him to let you stay. Besides, look!" She picked up the robot head from the desk and held it out to show me. Its face was unsettling enough from a distance, I didn't quite appreciate Cocona trying to bring it closer. If I had more energy I would have probably backed away as far as my bed would have allowed me.

"Sayuri-san got you flowers!" She said. I had no idea who Sayuri was, I'd never heard the name before, but Cocona seemed happy enough to talk, so I didn't interupt her, "The vase is fron Hidaka-san... Huh?!" Her voice wavered at the end, as water began to spew from the robot's teeth, as if catching sight of me made it want nothing more than to take a chunk out of my arm. I admit, I was disappointed to hear Cocona hadn't gotten me the flowers... but 'Sayuri' the one who'd gotten them for me, and 'Hidaka' who'd made the plant pot... _They don't know anything about me apart from I'm Cocona's friend, and both of them wanted to give me something to help me feel better..._ I knew from the moment I saw Papika, that Flip Flap was a very different organisation, but the fact that two of the people who worked here bought gifts to help someone they hadn't met until maybe hours ago... _I really got the short end of the stick when it came to people to work for..._

"And this is from me" Cocona said, breaking me out of my thoughts. She was holding a white shopping bag in her hands. I couldn't see what was inside, but I could smell the cream bread from here. "Please, stay here," she said sweetly. I turned away from her.

"I'm your enemy" _I attacked you in Pure Illusion after all, and even landed a hit on you._

"But you protected me" she said. _That's true... You would be right to trust me because of that... But I've also lied to you. A lot._ If she knew everything, she wouldn't be happy about being around me any more. Beginning to feel conflicted, and wanting something else to think about for a second, I snatched the bag of cream bread from her hands.

"Only until I'm done eating, okay?" _There. A compromise. But after this, I really am getting out of here._

I wasn't really sure how long I'd been out cold for, but eating made me feel a bit better, like I was getting my strength back. As soon as I finished though, I was suddenly aware of the pain in my body again and hissed through my teeth as I'd moved my arm too fast.

"Are you okay?" Cocona asked, concerned.

"Man, they didn't hold back..." or it certainly didn't feel like it at least. Asclepius' armour is pretty damn tough, good enough to help protect me from the twin's attack, but like the rest of their technology, it wasn't perfect. I'd noticed that my combat gear had been removed and I was pretty much sitting there in a vest, underwear and bandages. _I'll need to find my stuff before I go..._

"Aren't they your partners?" Cocona asked. The question stung.

_They_ should _be my partners... They have signs of being human, or more than I thought at first, but ultimately, they'll always go for the amorphous. After all,_ "That's what they were created for. When Asclepius found someone who could go to Pure Illusion and live, they made the twins, genetically programmed them with amorphous powers, so they could go there with me. You can't go to Pure Illusion alone."

"What about you?"

_Good question._ How the heck did I even survive there in the first place if I never had amorphous with me? The twins hadn't been created at that time, and I hadn't met Cocona then... Cocona was born with one in her thigh, and Papika had one under her anklet at all times... "I had them implanted in me later" I said. That much was true, or at least I was pretty certain of that, I've undergone so many surgeries and experiments, that was bound to be the case. _But if that wasn't the answer... then what was?_

"Are there others?" she asked. It was a perfectly innocent question, but it again, it stung, only this time, some memories I'd tried to block out came back, as if they were being forcibly injected into my head.

"There were... but they were incompatible, so they..." my voice wavered then, as I was living through the scene again in my head. _We were all sent to Pure Illusion in one go. Ended up in a volcanic landscape. Harsh ash blotted out the searing red sky. When you breathed it felt like you were inhaling fire... It wasn't long before the others were reduced to charred skeletons. There had once been eyes in those skulls, of all different colours, and full of life, but now the sockets were empty..._

"I'm the only one who survived." _And that's as much detail as I want to go in to._ Going by the look on Cocona's face, her eyes huge with shock, she got the message. I felt kinda bad about scaring her like that, so I quickly continued, trying to brush it off (literally running a hand through my hair as I did so) "And yet they treat me like trash because I can't find amorphous by myself. It's just not fair." My voice was light, and there was a grin on my face as I said that last part. _Maybe in the sort time I've been around the pink-haired idiot she's been rubbing off on me. Heh._ "Wherever you two go there's always an amorphous."

"Why would you go so far to collect fragments?"

I leaned in, closer to her. "If you collect all the amorphous, you can rule Pure Illusion..."

Cocona gasped, "I was told they grant wishes!"

_Oh Cocona... you're too naive, but at the same time,_ "I guess I can't exactly call that a lie. If you can bend Pure Illusion to your will, you can do whatever you want."

"That's messed up," she said, summing up what was pretty much my thoughts on the subject too. "Just for that, you'd..."

"...I believed in the mission." _To start with at least,_ "If it brought about a world where nobody had to get hurt or hurt others... If choosing my rightful place meant losing that, I thought I'd be much happier letting someone make the choice for me." _And instead, when I thought I was helping save the world, I ended up bringing it in more danger. Asclepius don't want peace, and they never have. I was stupid to ever think that when I was younger._

We sat in silence for a little while before Cocona's quiet voice piped up. "Sorry. I had no idea." She looked pretty upset.

"You're fine as you are," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder, to try and reassure her, "We're probably the ones in the wrong" _Well, Asclepius were the ones in the wrong at least..._

"Thanks" Cocona said. She looked happier, or at least relieved that she wasn't as big a part in this whole mess... or not that she knew at least.

"I'm glad you're my friend." She said with a smile.

My face fell. Guilt might as well have just punched me in the heart. They were nice words, or they would have been in any other situation, but once again, it just struck me how everything we had was based on a lie.

"Yayaka?" _Oh, that questioning and innocent voice… Cocona, I'm so sorry._

_I need to confess, and I need to do it now._

"I'm gonna be straight with you" _this is the last thing I want to say. I understand if you hate me, or if you'll never forgive me, but I genuinely came to love you, and I just want you safe._ Naturally, the words I wanted to say stayed in my head and all I got out was an "I…" before the building shook, and the lightbulbs overhead blinked.

_Oh crap…_ I wish I didn't find myself so distracted when I was around Cocona, I completely forgot about the possibility that Asclepius could have been launching an attack. _Why didn't I leave here earlier?_ Thinking about the timing much later, if I left earlier, there was no guarantee things afterwards went the way they did, but at the time, all I could do was curse myself.

Echoes of distant gunshots made their way through the corridors. Thankfully it was only the sound at the moment, but at the rate of fire (which, at a guess, would be comparable to a downpour in a rainforest), suggested that _all_ of Asclepius' available forces were in the building.

_How the hell are we gonna get out of this?_

"Yayaka!" Cocona put her arms around me, gently pulling me to the edge of the bed and then turned her back to me. It took me a second to knock myself back to my senses (it'd been a very long time since Cocona had put her arms around me… not counting Cocoka in Pure Illusion), and put my hand on the shoulder she offered, while grabbing the IV drip with my other hand, as I tried to pull myself up from the bed. There was no way we could stay here. If any enemies to the room, we'd basically be dead. I don't know where my combat gear was (even if I did know, I doubted it'd be in any condition to take a hit after the twin's assault), and my weapon belt was taken from me too. The only thing we could do was run.

Crashes began echoing through the building, sounding like they were coming closer every time.

"Sounds like big trouble…" a complete understatement from me, I could only imagine the chaos going on around us. "Go ahead, Cocona."

"I'm not leaving you!" she said, looking back at me, horrified that I'd suggest such a thing. The crashes and bangs were getting nearer at a rate lot faster than I'd like. _Cocona, you're gonna kill both of us_.

"Just go!" I shoved her forward, away from me. "Remember what I said? My mindset is totally unlike yours." _Now move your ass!_

Crash!

"But…"

CRASH!

_That one was way too close_ "Tch" I could only get that frustrated hiss out of my mouth before-

BOOM!

A shower of concrete chunks burst into the room, and a plume of dust rose to meet it. Now we had no choice but to face whatever it was that was so eager to meet us.

"Found Yayaka" "Target with her."

_The twins._

_Here to finish the job._

Although I was shocked, my first instinct was to step between them and Cocona. "RUN!" I yelled at her. I doubted if she did so, that it'd do much good now. Toto could aim at her and fire whenever he wanted, he could give her hope of escape, only to send a rocket to trip her up at the last second. He'd keep her still while Yuyu took a knife to her leg and got the amorphous out of her.

I really didn't want to believe the twins would do that, but I know they could, and they'd do it without a second thought. Just as I'd started to think of them as friends, Asclepius came between us, and now I had to face these people who I once trusted with my life.

"Cocona onee-chan" "Come with us" Yuyu began, and Toto finished.

"Me? Why?" she seemed genuinely confused. _Of course. She doesn't know what's going on here._ I lowered my body slightly, ready to run and charge them to buy Cocona time if I had to.

"Don't listen to them!" _If you go with them, it'll be the end of the world. Asclepius can't have you! For sugar's sake, Cocona, RUN!_

"You don't know?" Yuyu smirked. _Is she enjoying this?_ I admit I didn't know much about Yuyu, but seeing her like that, I could believe she was. My mind _really_ wanted to think otherwise. Memories of our time in the yuri-hell-school came back to me, shy, and gentle Yuyu, who'd taken my hand once as I was rambling, and who wanted to listen to the girls play the piano… It was hard to think that Yuyu, and the one standing in front of me with a sadistic smile on her face were the same person. Part of me just wanted to rush and tackle her, but I couldn't. My stupid brain told me that the Yuyu with the bad arm who liked my hair when it was braided, was the exact same Yuyu standing in front of me. I had trouble separating the two, and found myself losing my will to attack.

"Will tell you. Inside you…" The smile on her face didn't grow, and her voice's tone only became a little more threatening, but every single word was laced with venom. How someone who sounded so monotone all the time was capable of that I didn't know.

Honestly, it scared me… I looked away from the twins, partly because looking at them was hard, and partly because I knew they were going to tell Cocona what I never could.

"…is an amorphous" Cocona's shocked gasp was louder than the gunfire in that moment, and it was a noise I don't think I'd ever forget.

"You really didn't know? That's why Yayaka watched you all this time."

It was probably my imagination, but everything fell silent at that point. I felt as if I was in a boat that'd just been kicked off out to sea, and all I could do was watch the people on the shore turn their backs on me, before I was left alone to drift aimlessly.

I barely registered Cocona's and Yuyu's voices as they spoke, Yuyu telling the truth about me, and Cocona who was probably feeling more betrayed by the second. _I didn't mean to hurt you… I never wanted that…_ Each word they said was another twist of a knife in my heart.

"That's a lie! …Right?" Cocona turned to me, her voice shaking as she asked. I couldn't face her. I didn't have the right to look at her any more. The first person who cared about me, the _only_ person, was desperate to hear that everything we'd ever had wasn't based on a lie.

And I wanted nothing more in that moment, to be able to tell Cocona that Yuyu was just trying to mess with her mind, trying to turn her against me… but I could only look down in shame.

The truth was out, and nothing could change that.

"No way…"

Time had frozen after that moment. The boat at sea I was drifting in has sprung a leak… There wasn't even a point in trying to fix it.

Suddenly, a flag of pink hair that flew past on a hoversurf, and time began to move again. "Cocona!" Papika chirped. All of us turned to look. Papika had flown in and picked up Cocona, who shifted around upon hearing an unexpected voice. It took all of us a second to register what exactly was happening. _But it was enough._

"RUN!" By some miracle I was the first to react, and I shouted at her, hoping that she'd listen to me when Cocona hadn't. Papika turned to look at me, her big blue eyes startled.

"You hop on too, Yayaka!" She said. _What? Why is she trying to save me?_

"Forget me! Just go!" _Make sure she's safe, get her out of here! It's fine if I'm taken out, please, just protect her!_

Papika stood there on her hoversurf, speechless, as I gave my command. I thought for a second she'd tell me 'no!' and that she'd save me too whether I wanted that to happen or not. I was prepared to yell at her again…

When she smiled and nodded, without question.

Once again, I felt the connection between us that had first started when we piloted the mecha. That plain simple, _understanding._ A feeling I'd never gotten from anyone else, and it came from one of the people who I thought I hated the most... In that moment, I found that I trusted Papika. _Maybe I wasn't entirely alone in the world..._

She flew away with Cocona on her hoversurf, leaving me and the twins behind.

"Not getting away" Yuyu said, being the next one to come to her senses. Another stroke of luck for me. If it was Toto, he would have blasted past with his rocket pack, but because it was Yuyu, I had enough time to grab a nearby wire, that'd come down with the wall Yuyu punched her way through, and managed to catch it around her arm. It was at this point that Toto became alert again, and the twins both looked at what'd stopped Yuyu from moving.

"You get to play with me," I said, trying to taunt them into fighting. It was probably pretty dumb of me, but I didn't care. As long as it stops them getting to Cocona, or at least buys Papika more time to get away, I was totally fine with that.

I expected the twins to attack me right away, but they both just stood there, dumbfounded. I tugged the wire again, trying to get a reaction out of both of them, but they were still frozen on the spot.

"The hell are you guys waiting for? Fight me!" _Why are you just standing around like that?!_

Toto was the one who answered.

"You are injured."

"...What?" _They seemed pretty happy to beat the crap out of me the last time I met them, so why the change of heart now?_ The surprise of hearing what he said was enough for me to loosen my grip on the wire, and it fell slack. Yuyu could have used the opportunity to rush me, right then, and I couldn't have done a single thing to defend myself. Instead, she stood as still as a statue. Watching.

"You are injured" Toto repeated, in the exact same tone of voice. It was a simple statement, one that made complete sense, but it confused the frick out of me.

"Well, what did you expect? You guys went at me full force, it's a miracle I'm not dead." The lack of hostility calmed the rush of adrenaline that was coursing through me, and I began to feel the pain in my arms and legs again. I wanted nothing more than to sit down right then, but I wasn't ready to show them weakness. _I don't know what their intentions are. View them as enemies, Yayaka, be prepared. You can't let your guard down, not now._

"Wasn't full force."

My eyes narrowed "What do you mean by that?" I said, glaring, trying my hardest not to let go of the wire, and to remain standing, when my legs were starting to shake.

"Held back. Purposefully."

_Unusual. Are you Toto?_ I bit back that response. I may have been fine to say it, but I was still suspicious. _How do I know they're not deceiving me?_

"No intention of attack."

_Is that... so...?_ My vision began to fade out, and my head felt like it was filling with static. I felt myself tumble forwards...

* * *

...When I awoke, I was lying back on the bed. The sounds of fighting seemed to have stopped. Time must have passed, I don't know how much of it, but the fact I couldn't hear combat in the corridors, likely meant the forces of Asclepius were gone.

I tried to sit up and have a look around, and felt like I was going to fall backwards, my muscles too weak to support my body. I was surprised when I felt a giant metal hand place itself against my back, carefully lowering me back down onto the bed, so I was staring at the ceiling.

"Yuyu..." I turned over to look at the silver haired girl, who continued to watch me silently. I was a little surprised she hadn't run off and left me when I blacked out. I couldn't see Toto (that would mean getting up, and I was in way too much pain for that right now), but it sounded like he was still in the room, I could hear the clinking of glass containers alongside doors opening and closing, as if he was looking for something. "Toto, what are you doing?"

"Aiding recovery" he said. There was a pause from the noise (I could picture him nodding at whatever he'd found in the latest cupboard) before walking over to a nearby table. It sounded like he was mixing something together... Oddly enough, my first thought didn't go to 'he's going to poison me', or 'he's going to experiment on me' when I felt it should have. Even after being attacked by both the twins, and being in a lot of pain because of it, I found myself finding that I still must have trusted them to some extent, my hostility towards them seems to have gone completely... but even if that was the case, there was still something on my mind.

"In that last world, it seemed like you guys wanted to kill me, and right now you're doing the complete opposite... Why?"

Toto didn't answer, or not for a while at least. It was kinda weird, even though I was in a medical lab right now, and the only two people in here with me were a part of Asclepius, I didn't really feel scared.

I assumed the silence from him was because he was working, and he got so caught up that he eventually forgot I'd asked him something, when he approached, his red eyes looking down at me, and applied whatever he'd been working on to some of my bandages, his fingers were cold when they brushed my skin.

"No intention of attack, but needed to harm. If less than all remaining amorphous, Asclepius would have killed you."

That last part sent a wave of shock through me, and my eye opened wide. I mean, I wouldn't have put it past Asclepius to actually _do_ something like that if it came to it, but... to hear it out loud, and not just as a thought in my head... It only really hit me then, just what the words meant. _Of course... they couldn't risk anyone else learning about Pure Illusion... even then, if they made a third amorphous child, and had all the time between creating Toto and Yuyu to perfect that technology, they wouldn't need me any more if I failed. They could make someone who was completely loyal to them._ My mind strayed for a moment and I wondered if the third amorphous kid actually _was_ the third, or if there had been many failed amorphous kids in-between her and the twins... _How many failed experiments have they done in that time? ...How many potential people have they thrown out and discarded like that?_ I glanced between Toto and Yuyu. _These two can't have been the first ones either... probably just the most successful..._

"Had to hurt you. Let Cocona and Papika take you. Flip Flap would heal. Asclepius would not."

I don't think I'd ever heard Toto say quite so much to me before, or not all in one go like that at least. I understood the twin's logic behind doing what they did, but I got mad at them. I don't know if I had a fever or a high temperature before, but if I did, it probably just got a bit higher as anger ran through me.

"Are you two idiots? You've brought them right to Flip Flap!" I didn't bother hiding my true intentions from them any more. "These guys are the only people who can stop them, and having them bring me here, you've lead Asclepius right to their base!" _Only having Cocona's tracker was enough to keep Asclepius away from them, only knowing a vague location, but having me here too? It's a death sentence! Papika and Cocona, the only hopes of this world could have died because you wanted them to bring me back here!_ I thought about what Cocona was telling me about Sayuri-san and Hidaka-san, the two people who'd given me gifts when I arrived injured. My eye went over to the robot-head flower pot on the desk. _They didn't even know me, and they were nice to me... And now they could be dead too... They haven't even done anything to attack Asclepius!_...Another thought hit me just then. _They never attacked Asclepius. I don't know much about the people who worked at this base, but if they were all like that... they wouldn't want to attack Asclepius at all. Asclepius was the one who saw Flip Flap as an enemy. At most, Flip Flap may have seen Asclepius as competition..._

_Asclepius wouldn't think twice about wiping out competitors._ I didn't want to think about how many bodies I could see if I stepped out into the corridors and tried to leave. There could have been as many people here as there were at Asclepius... so many, innocent people...

"You knew Asclepius would attack if they ever found their way here! Do you know how many people have died? Or how many _could_ have died?! _What the hell were you thinking?!"_

"...you would be alive."

For the first time since Papika and Cocona left, Yuyu spoke. Her voice was quiet. If it wasn't for the fact the room was totally silent, I would never have heard her speak.

I blinked.

_The twins risked a whole base of people so Asclepius wouldn't kill me?_ They might not have gone the best way about it, but... I meant this much to them? _They did this for me?_

Now I think about it, if the twins _really_ did want to kill me back in that previous world, they could have done so without a problem. Toto was made to find the best place to target, and Yuyu could find weak spots with ease... finding the best place to target didn't always have to be a hostile action, as he proved with the Iron Boys back in the desert world, he fired and immobilised as many as he could in a single strike. When it came to me, he did enough damage to cause worry, but not to kill. Same for Yuyu, she could have just punched my head clean off, or cracked it open like a walnut, and instead, she aimed for probably the strongest point on my armour, hurting me just enough to require medical attention.

Yuyu continued to sit in silence, never taking her eyes off me, while Toto was still moving around the room, working on my injuries. He kept asking me if I was alright if I got hurt in all our previous adventures... I assumed at first it was because Asclepius made him as a team medic, in addition to a ranged combatant, making him the ultimate support unit. It's not the first time Toto healed me, but it was the first time I thought that he was doing this, not because Asclepius made him so he'd just patch me up if I got hurt, _but because he genuinely wanted to help._

"Have you thought about becoming a doctor, Toto? You'd be good at it." It felt pretty weird breaking the silence by asking him that, as that wasn't something I'd normally say. I wondered for a second if I'd said something wrong when I got no response, and opened my eye, expecting to see him looking down at me blankly… only to my surprise there was a little smirk on his face. He didn't need to speak, just by looking at him I began grinning myself, as we both knew what he would have said: 'Unusual. Are you Yayaka?' A few giggles broke free from me then, and I couldn't hold them back. For some reason it just seemed hilarious. Toto seemed to think so too, I heard a couple of quiet chuckles. Even Yuyu cracked a grin at the situation.

_This must be the first time I've ever heard one of them laugh before... Hell, this could be the first time they've_ ever _laughed._

It took a while for the laughter to die down, mostly on my part. I wasn't really sure why I found it so funny, I guess I was just so relieved at being alive, and that the twins didn't seem to hate me, I just couldn't stop… not until that last thought at least, which spoilt the mood for me, and I frowned.

"I thought you guys were mad at me. I didn't always bring back the amorphous for Asclepius, and you two didn't seem to like that... You even said you'd report me, Yuyu."

"...yes." She hesitated before saying that. _Why the pause?_

"Why did you report me?"

"Normal procedure," came her reply. _I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that, Asclepius using the twins to keep an eye on me. They probably went back to them after every mission and gave them a rundown of what happened._

"Okay, that makes sense..." I admitted, feeling a bit more at ease, "but why did you tell Cocona the truth about me?"

Toto had stopped moving around the room at that point, and turned to look at Yuyu, apparently, also curious to know what the reason behind it. Yuyu shifted slightly where she sat, her arms becoming slightly more tense, as she looked down at the hands in her lap. _Is she embarrassed?_

I waited for a few minutes, but the most I got out of Yuyu was her eyes flicking in my direction once.

"Okay, I'm not gonna get an answer now, fine, but I want one later, you hear me?"

She gave me a tiny nod of acknowledgement.

"Yayaka, can you stand?" Toto asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure..." I was pretty hesitant to try. I twisted body around so my legs were dangling off the edge of the bed, and slowly, pushed myself to my feet. Yuyu's arm was hovering just behind me, in case I lost my balance, but it wasn't needed. The pain in my arms and legs had mostly gone now, it still wasn't perfect, but I was nowhere near as bad as I was before. I turned to thank him, his face twitched into a small smile... and saw a small line of blood dripping down the side of his face.

"Toto, are you hurt?" I asked. Yuyu stood up, alert and looked at him.

"Need to go" she said.

"I'm fine" Toto said, trying to brush off Yuyu's worry, but his voice was a little strained. He put a hand to the place he was bleeding from, as if covering it would make us forget it was there.

"Can't you do something to fix that?" I asked him.

"Difficult to work on self. No information"

I wondered for a second what he meant, when he tapped his eyepiece, and then I understood. _Asclepius made it. He was a support unit, supposed to stay on the sidelines. It was mine and Yuyu's job to do the close combat fighting, and his to patch us up. He isn't meant to get hurt, he's meant to stay in the background, and if he did was he was made to do, why would he ever need to diagnose himself?_

I began to get mad again. "What the _hell_ is wrong with Asclepius?" _Why would they not make sure the medic would know how to heal himself?_

"Need to report back" Yuyu said "They can fix him"

"Are you crazy, Yuyu? There's no guarentee they're gonna welcome you back! If you heard they were gonna kill me for coming back without amorphous, what are they gonna do to you two?"

"No choice. They can heal him. They have a machine"

I wanted to say 'why not just take him to a hospital?' but I doubted that would work. Even if they made it there, they would question why there were two kids armed with rockets and a power fist were there. Besides, even if they _did_ try that, I don't know much about the biology of people made from amorphous, I mean, I'd assume there weren't too many differences, but the fact that Yuyu didn't seem to need to eat back in the yuri-hell-school... yeah, their abnormalities would just lead to more problems than we needed...

I began to get antsy. Talking about the school and hospitals got me thinking about Cocona and I began to worry. _Why the hell have we been talking so long? I need to know if Cocona's safe! But what about the twins...? I can't leave them..._

No matter what I ended up doing, I needed to find my combat gear. Surely the Flip Flappers kept it nearby, or somewhere in this room at least...

I rummaged through cupboards and as I did so, voiced another thought that was on my mind.

"You could have chased Cocona. Hell, you called her your 'target'..." I closed the doors to a medicine cabinet as I turned to look at the twins, "So, why did you stop?"

"You were injured" "Lip reading"

Toto's response, I'd kinda expected, but Yuyu's confused me. _Lip reading?_ It was enough to make me look over at her, confused. She quickly blinked and looked away. _I'll need to ask her about that too..._

It wasn't long before I found my combat gear folded away nearly in one of the drawers. I found a screen that could be pulled along, did so, and got changed behind it before going back. _Even if all the fighting has stopped, I don't really wanna get caught off guard by any stragglers._ I don't know if Papika and Cocona got away, but there was only one way to find out.

"I'm going after Cocona," I said, barging past the twins. They watched me in silence. I'd just made it to the doorway before I paused and turned back to them, the pain I felt now from my injuries was a lot weaker than it had been an hour ago, and I had something to say about that.

"...Toto? I meant it when I said you'd make a good doctor. Thank you." I felt awkward saying it, and I'm pretty sure the smile I attempted looked a bit more like a grimace than I would have liked it to, but I felt I should have said something to them before we went our seperate ways, especially as there was no telling what would happen now. "And you as well, Yuyu. Thank you. You guys be careful out there, okay?"

They both nodded, Toto's had a small smile on his face, while Yuyu watched me... It looked a bit like she was worried, or wanted to say something, but I left before she could speak. _I can't stay here any longer. I need to find Cocona._

* * *

_Authors note: This was tough to write. HelI, I re-wrote the start at least 3 times, trying to get it right (at first attempting to do something completely different as I wasn't sure I could keep the anime's scene and then move on, but no matter what I typed, I couldn't get along with it, so I just went ahead and stuck with the anime's story for this part…) And even then, this chapter was friggin' horrible to try and sort out (Episodes 5 and 7? they're the longest chapters in the fic and they only took me about 1 week each to write. This one took me 3 weeks to write). Trying to read it over and make sure it all works, for some reason, is really difficult for me to do. I have communication issues sometimes, where even something that's meant to be very clear and easy to understand just doesn't make sense to me... I also feel the pacing was a little messy in this one, but I'm hoping it turned out fine._

_I had to try and work out what happened in the medical area, because Yayaka appears in episode 11 seperated from Toto and Yuyu, how she was able to leave, alive, and how she was seperated from the twins. I_ think _the thing I came up with made sense, but deary me, it's been a frig fraggin' nightmare to word, to the point of I kinda wanted to print it off, just so I could screw every single page of it up into a ball and throw them all around the room. Parts of it still bug me, but I think this is as close as I'm gonna get, so I'm just gonna stick with this._

_Although I've written the part that covers episode 11 already, it might be a while before I upload it and future ones, as it's getting tougher to write as I go along. I'm trying my best, but deary me, the fast moving plot near the end of Flip Flappers doesn't quite help with that..._

_Explinations in case I forget to mention them at any point in the story otherwise/in any possible sequels:_

_The twins actions seeming odd this episode compared to the last two: That's the thing, I don't think they are. Who's POV are you reading from? Yayaka's. If you go back and have a look through the twin's actions, they're probably acting how they always would in any situation, but Yayaka's become a fragton more paranoid the past few adventures. Toto and Yuyu are probably acting the same as before, but because Yayaka made the choice to go against Asclepius, she can't trust them and sees them as enemies in that time._


	15. Episode 11

It was weird to be leaving the twins behind, but we couldn't really go together on this mission. Toto needed healing, I knew nothing of medicine or machinery, and _someone_ had to make sure Cocona had made it out of this place alive.

I was relieved to see that depsite the Flip Flap building (which was pretty much a network of tunnels) being so large, that there weren't any dead bodies anywhere. Whether that was because Flip Flap was a small organisation, or because they all evacuated I wasn't sure. The most I found in terms of destruction were busted up gun turrets, a few places that'd caved in entirely, and a line of holes that'd been smashed into walls (all of which lead to the medbay where I was). I had no trouble hopping over the stray debris, although it was taking me a while to find a way out, this place was a friggin' maze. _If there's no people here, then how the hell did they build all of this? Did they just find these abandoned tunnels and claim it in the name of Flip Flap? Did they build them all? And if they did build them, then how? If there were so few people here, how long would this have taken? Did they somehow get to Pops' world in Pure Illusion and ask him for help? Or were there robots-_

_Papika's robot!_

That little yellow thing followed Papika and Cocona all around Pure Illusion, it might have tagged along after them when they escaped!

I'm not entirely sure what happened to my headgear, but I didn't find it with my armour, I don't know if that ended up destroyed or what, but since I didn't have a way to find Cocona's tracker, and Asclepius never really taught me how to use any of their computers (Okay, I don't know how similar Flip Flaps' technology was to Asclepius' but still, my computer knowledge was basically zero) looking for a bright yellow robot was probably my next best bet. I figured it was a lot slower than the hoversurf, so it shouldn't be too hard to track down...

_'Tracks'... would it leave tyre tracks?_

It was quite a long shot, but it was all I had to go on. I ran around for a while before I saw a trail of two straight lines. I wish I'd payed more attention to the robot before, I couldn't really remember how big it was and if these looked like they'd match up... even then, I had no way of telling which way they were going: were they just patrolling the halls? Were they leaving the building, or were they entering?

All I could do was pick a direction, follow them and hope for the best.

I almost lost them a couple of times because of all the smoke, ash and dust on the floor around some of the crossroads, but I always found them again a little while later... although at some point I came across an addition to the tyre tracks that worried me:

A set of footprints.

They were kinda on the small side, which I thought was a little strange. Too small for Cocona or Papika, and there was no way in heck it was Toto or Yuyu either. _An ally or an enemy?_

Taking a look up along the corridor I saw what looked like the door to a bank vault or a safe on the wall that'd been torn from its hinges, and quite a few chunks of rock nearby too. _Would Flip Flap want to destroy parts of their own base? Or has this area always been like this?_

Something in me doubted both of those being options. I'm not sure why, just call it a hunch, but both of those just didn't seem like the right answer to me.

I knelt down to get a closer look. The tyre tracks, which were straight lines, seemed to turn jagged here, as if it'd backed up... _Threatened perhaps?_ That thought seemed weird to me, but from what I knew of Flip Flap, they'd be a lot more likely to create a robot with a personality than Asclepius. The human footprints seemed to stand a little far apart at one point, as if taking a different stance, maybe a more hostile one. _Did a fight happen here? ...No, I don't think so._ There were no burn marks from laser guns, and no metal bullets here either. The only destruction in the corridor was the busted vault door. Tell a lie, there appeared to be a small screw or two around the zig-zagged lines. _The human threatened the robot, caused a little damage to it..._ The footprints and the robots tire tracks both went along the corridor. _The human wanted to be taken somewhere...?_

_Why are you standing around wasting time?! The longer you stay here the more danger Cocona could be in!_

Cursing myself for getting distracted so easilly, I once again, followed the tracks (and footprints) through the tunnels...

Eventually I found myself at a door, which when opened, revealed a small alleyway... that I was about to take a step into, only to find that there wasn't floor where I thought there should have been one. I'd just about managed to register this fact, and I grabbed onto the door again, trying to pull my foot back from over the edge.

_Crapping hell..._ Okay, apparently Pure Illusion wasn't the only place I needed to look before I tried just blindly walking out somewhere. _Why the hell was there a door built halfway up on some random building?_ It was the only one too, I checked. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. _Well, I guess it'd be pretty hard to get to Flip Flap through there. You'd have to climb a flat surface vertically, then try and open up a door that swung outwards, and then work yourself over to the correct side so you could actually get in... And if you tried to escape and you didn't know the drop was there..._ Again, there weren't any corpses here, which I was glad about, but still, as strange as the whole thing was, it seemed like it wasn't too bad a defensive choice on Flip Flap's part. Difficult to get in, and if you didn't realise where you were going, you could easilly break your legs on the way out, nice and easy to capture again.

I wondered if Flip Flap were quite as nice as I thought they were...

_Focus, Yayaka! You need to find the robot!_

Looking down, I saw the tracks continued on the ground below, although the human footprints seemed to have disappeared. _Now where did they go?_

I assumed the person was still being taken somewhere, but if they weren't following the robot from the ground...

Turning my attention up to the top of the building, I saw a ledge I could grapple onto. I ran a hand along my weapons belt, and discovered that Flip Flap had taken my rockets away, (To be expected, I guess, you wouldn't really want a potential enemy to have their weapons on hand, would you?), but by a stroke of luck, they'd left my grappling wire alone. _Good._

I shot a cable up to the ledge of the building and clambered over the edge. Although my arms and legs felt a lot better than they did, it was still a little hard to keep a grip and pull myself up. I dashed over to the alleyway where I saw the robot tracks and tried to see if I could spy any more... Having one eye covered didn't hinder my sight as much as I thought it would, when it came to looking for things, but even if I had both eyes good to go, I doubt I would have spotted anything from up here. I skirted along the edge of the building, keeping low, with my fingers brushing the cold concrete below me, trying to get a closer look without accidentally managing to stumble over the edge...

_Nothing..._

_No, wait._

I caught just a tiny glimpse of yellow and a small figure ducking behind another building a little distance away.

_Gotcha._

I stood and took a step away from the edge, hoping I could aim fine with one eye covered, and shot out a wire.

* * *

Turned out the person who followed Flip Flap's robot was the third amorphous child, and she was holding a gun out, aiming at a magenta haired guy (his arms were flailing like crazy) and a woman (who was cowering), both of them terrified. _Looks like I got here just in time._

I fired a wire at the gun, and pulled it upwards, so it'd end up in my hands. I figured it'd be safer way up on the building with me than with any of the people below, as I had no intention of firing it at all.

The three people below all looked up at me. I didn't know if they could see who it was at all, the sun was to my back, so I was probably just a shadow, but I pictured myself looking pretty cool at the time. The man and the woman appeared to be kind of confused, and the third kid looked... a lot more capable of emotions than the twins, but I had no idea what that look on her face was. Surprise maybe? I guess I couldn't blame her. Asclepius probably thought the twins had killed me.

"Hey, third kid," I said. It was the first time I'd gotten a proper look at her. Her combat gear was pink and black, and she appeared to be a lot less armoured than the rest of us. She didn't appear to have a weapons belt or anything on her, but she was holding... Kind of a segmented metal ring? It made me think a bit of one of those rubber rings a kid might have at a pool. _Is Asclepius finally catching on to the idea that we could land in a water world one day?_ I thought at first she was surprised upon having seen me alive, but I was starting to think I was wrong about that, and that she just had naturally large eyes. They had a orange-yellow-brown tinge to them which... struck me as kinda familiar, although I couldn't place why.

Either way, she didn't seem too pleased to see me, but not for the reason I initially thought.

"No! I'm Nyunyu!" She called up to me.

"Nyu- Nyunyu?" I stuttered. _Yuyu... Nyunyu? Asclepius suck at names._

"Not Nyunyunyu! Nyunyu!" She corrected. While the twin's blank faces had some kinda permanent... 'scowling' blankness, for want of words, Nyunyu's blankess seemed more... curious.

I blinked. "You're a funny one..."

I shook my head to try and clear it. _You're getting distracted again, Yayaka!_ At that point I hopped down from the building to meet the three (four I guess, counting the robot), tucking the gun away in one of the pouches on my weapon belt.

Nyunyu watched me the entire time, not taking her eyes off me. I was a little surprised she didn't attack, but I won't complain about that. It gave me a chance to get a better look at the two people she was threatening.

The woman was now holding Papika's battered robot in her arms, hunching over it slightly as if to protect it. She wore a blue jacket, which made me think a little of my own. White and red headphones hung around her neck, pulling her fairly long hair down around her back. She looked pretty average, or just like anyone else you'd find walking on the street...

The guy however gave no such impression. Although I knew nothing about him, the fact he was wearing a lab coat made me instantly wary. He didn't _seem_ hostile, in his big goofy glasses and... _interesting_ fashion sense, (yellow shirt, and denim overalls, which clashed greatly with his hair) but still, the fact he struck me as 'scientist' made it hard to not want to glare at him. I noticed he was carrying something on his back, that although wrapped in a large sheet of green and white fabric, was distinctly surfboard shaped.

_A hoversurf?_

"You guys are part of Flip Flap, right?" I asked them. They both jolted, and realised they were no longer under being threatened.

"You're Cocona's friend," the woman said.

"You seem to have made a full recovery" The guy in the lab coat added. Not a direct answer, but it confirmed my initial thoughts. _Maybe I can trust these people... But whether they'll trust me is another question. Do they know I'm part of Asclepius? How much has Cocona told them?_

"Where are you guys headed?" I asked.

"Why should we tell _you_ that?" The magenta-haired guy took a couple of steps closer, (his wooden sandals sounded like a horses' hooves as he walked) and adjusted his glasses, leaning in pretty close to my face. My immediate reaction was to scowl at him and a hand went to my weapon belt (not for the pouch that contained the gun, just to my wires). I wasn't going to attack him... or at least I wasn't planning to, but if he started talking about human experimentation, he was gonna get a wire through his skull.

"Doctor Hidaka, she saved us-"

"We can never be too careful! That last kid pulled a gun on us! And look what she did to TT-392!" He took a few steps back and gestured wildly as he spoke, his hands eventually hovering in front of the robot the woman was holding. _TT-392? Man, that's a mouthful..._ Is that what Cocona and Papika called it too? Somehow I doubted it.

"I'm not gonna hurt the robot, or either of you two. I just followed it here- Wait, your name is Hidaka?" For some reason his name only just registered with me. _That's the guy who made the robot-head flower pot... which means..._ "You must by Sayuri?" I asked, turning to the woman. Hidaka looked a bit like he was gonna start yelling again, but before he could, the woman spoke.

"That's right."

_She's the one who gave me flowers..._

I turned to Nyunyu, who watched the exchange without a word. I had no idea what the hell she was thinking. She hadn't demanded the gun back from me, so I'd guess she had no intention of attacking any more. Her eyes met mine, her face as blank as either of the twin's. _I can only hope she'll listen to me like Toto and Yuyu._ The workers at Asclepius were the smartest people I knew, I wouldn't put it past them to have somehow made Nyunyu loyal to Asclepius only, and to dismiss all other orders...

"Nyunyu, no hurting these two. They can help us out."

"Okay!"

...But they were simultaneously the dumbest people I knew too. Nyunyu was still a kid, younger than me and the twins at least. She was still learning. They were probably just relieved they could successfully make another amorphous child, that they just wanted to shove them out into Pure Illusion as quickly as they could, knowing they couldn't rely on me any more. Heck, I had no idea if Nyunyu considered me a higher rank than her, or if I had any authority over her at all, but she seemed pretty fine with following my orders. She didn't strike me as the sort of person to disobey, but I'll need to keep an eye on her just in case. _She pulled a gun on them in the first place after all..._

"You trust me now?" I said, turning back to Hidaka with a smirk on my face. It was pretty nice to be feeling like I was superior over a scientist for once.

"No! It sounds like you're taking us hostage!"

_Although he's being just as difficult as the Asclepius scientists..._ "You want me to give her the gun back?"

The look on his face was indignant, before he admited defeat. It was pretty satisfying when he said "...you win."

_Good scientist..._ "That's what I thought. Now, tell me, where are you two headed?"

The answer to that was to Flip Flap's back-up base: Flip Flap Zero. Reluctantly, Hidaka and Sayuri let me follow them, when I convinced them I didn't want to harm them (and also that I'd keep an eye on Nyunyu). On the way there, I'd learnt a little bit about them too. Sayuri was once a student at a university Doctor Salt (the leader of Flip Flap) was working at, and she decided to work for him when he started his project to study Pure Illusion... or that's what she claimed at least, but her cheeks seemed to turn a little pink as she spoke, which made me think otherwise. Hidaka had a similar story, although rather than being one of Doctor Salt's students at university, he just admired Salt's work and wanted a chance to work with him too.

Salt's university job, and the recuitment of these two lead to the creation of Flip Flap, originally just a tiny base (Flip Flap Zero, the place we were heading to), but when Salt had heard about Papika, someone who could go to Pure Illusion, being in the area, he sent Sayuri and Hidaka out to get her. She was successfully recruited (apparently Salt said something that got her attention), and Salt had enough funding to move to a bigger building (the current base... well, before it came under attack I guess) and they'd been trying to find a way into Pure Illusion to gather amorphous and keep it away from Asclepius ever since.

"But how does Salt know about all of this in the first place?" I asked.

"Oh, he used to work for them when he was a teenager" Sayuri answered. Hidaka never really spoke to me the whole time, only giving me suspicious looks. He was holding TT-392, and sorta stomping along in his woodel sandals, still annoyed the robot was busted up. I thought I heard him mumble once or twice wondering how the hell I'd recovered so soon, and that I couldn't be trusted.

_Doctor Salt used to work for Asclepius?_ I wasn't sure what to make of this information, but it naturally gave me a dislike of him. It was probably unfair, I didn't know much about him otherwise, but still, _Asclepius started this mess, Salt used to be a part of it..._ Okay, he wasn't a part of it any more, but still, he wanted Papika to go into Pure Illusion to search for amorphous, and then they eventually got Cocona to go too... _Not everyone makes it to Pure Illusion alive... It was lucky that Cocona survived at all... How can he send a kid like that off to Pure Illusion when he_ knew _what would happen if they weren't compatible?_

At some point during the journey, Nyunyu had gotten bored of walking and was hovering on her segmented metal ring. She'd piped up with a question or two every now and then, but mostly just followed along in silence. I wasn't looking at her the whole time, but it seemed like she never blinked. Kinda creepy, but as long as her face didn't shift into black and red scribbles, I could get used to that.

Flip Flap Zero was... small. Really small. Just a little stone cottage (okay, and a large radar dish) in the middle of nowhere. Hidaka practically kicked the door down and set TT-392 on a table, getting to work on fixing the damage it'd taken. Nyunyu went over to him and watched intently, probably happy at the fact something more exciting than walking was happening. Or maybe, like the twins, Asclepius made her with a talent for technology. Hidaka tried to shove Nyunyu away a few times, but eventually he gave up. He opened up a part of the yellow casing to reveal a brain inside, and Nyunyu made a curious noise of wonder as she went to poke it. My reaction however was to just stare wide-eyed in shock.

Sayuri passed me at some point, and stopped walking upon seeing me. She looked between me, and Hidaka working on TT-392 and turned back to me with a little smile on her face.

"Hidaka's quite clever you know. Papika can't go to Pure Illusion alone, so he made TT-392 as a companion for her, or 'Buu-chan' as Papika calls him. It took quite a few attempts before he was successful. Doctor Salt wanted Papika to find a human partner for Papika but..." She trailed off, not wanting to talk. Remembering my own experience of going to Pure Illusion for the first time, I could understand why. She shrugged and continued talking to me, as she set up a laptop on another table nearby "It was then that Hidaka came up with the idea to give TT-392 a brain. It wasn't a perfect solution, TT-392 ended up coming back in worse condition every time he came back, but until Cocona joined us, it was all we had to work with."

Well, that answered the question that'd been on my mind for a long time now, considering Asclepius' failures with sending robots into Pure Illusion... although I got suspicious of Hidaka again, being a scientist in a lab coat who aquired a brain to give to a robot... _Where did he even get the brain?_ I'd guess it was one that was donated for research purposes when the person had died. _If Asclepius had thought to give a robot a brain, I wouldn't put it past them to try and take the brain from the person while they were still alive..._ Hidaka wasn't as bad as Asclepius in that respect at least, but still...

I ended up sitting down near the window and looking at the world outside, as there wasn't really anything else I could do here. It was hard not to feel out of place being here. This cottage was probably someone's house once... The only house I'd been in beyond Cocona's. It was a friendly, cosy little place, the inside looked kinda how I'd picture the inside of a log cabin. There was a clock on the wall that looked a bit like a miniature grandfather clock, a large square rug on the floor, white curtains hanging at the windows, a few posters on the all... It didn't look particularly dirty or dusty, which I thought was a little odd, because going by how Sayuri was talking about the place earlier, she made it sound like no one had been here in years.

Sayuri had served me tea at some point, which I politely accepted. Hidaka and Nyunyu, having fixed Buu into an acceptable state, were now working on the hoversurf Hidaka was carrying. I'd asked him earlier why we couldn't use that to travel and get here faster, but apparently it was a prototype and travelling that way could be risky. There wasn't really much I could do here. I held the tea in my hands and ended up staring into the pale brown liquid for a little while.

_I should be out there looking for Cocona..._ That was my original plan, but I didn't really have a way to go about it. Cocona had a tracker in her, but that was hooked up to Asclepius' computers. I didn't have my visor, so there was no way for me to connect to their system. I asked Nyunyu if she had anything like that, and she just shook her head before returning her attention to Hidaka.

"How did you keep track of those two in Pure Illusion before, then?" I asked. Okay, I didn't know if they _did_ keep track of them in there, that could just be an Asclepius exclusive thing, but still, if Flip Flap didn't resort to putting trackers in them, then what did they have?

Sayuri answered, "we used TT-392 to keep an eye on Papika at first, but she seemed pretty capable of taking care of herself. I always thought it was a bit strange, but I never really questioned it. Doctor Salt was pretty adamant about having her join the team, so maybe he knew something we didn't. She was friendly enough though, and proved to be very reliable, if a little wild, so we just rolled with it."

"'A little wild'?"

"Papika ended up spending a long time in Pure Illusion before Doctor Salt recruited her. She never liked to wear shoes if we gave them to her, child-like speech pattern... She won't let us cut her hair, either. It was a long time before she let me brush it... She hated it at first, but now she seems quite happy when I do it for her."

A lot more things made sense to me now. I'd noticed Papika was pretty much barefoot all the time, even on stone pathways, and why she acted a lot younger than her age... _Could I survive like that if I was left on my own in Pure Illusion, without anyone's help?_ It was difficult to say. I had tons of experience with the place, sure, but most of that was because I had Asclepius' help... Whereas, by the sounds of it, Papika grew up there alone...

No... I don't think I _would_ be able to do that.

More time passed in silence after that. Well, I say in silence, Hidaka and Nyunyu had gone from working on the hoversurf to working on a large red battery, and you'd occasically hear the clang and scrape of metal on metal as a screw was adjusted or a part was moved, but other than that, it was pretty quiet here. It was odd, I was used to the constant humming of machinery and footsteps for the Asclepius guys walking through corridors, but the quiet here... it was kinda nice.

After a while it started to get on my nerves though. Quiet meant only having my thoughts for company (I would have talked to Sayuri but I couldn't think of anything to say, and whenever I went to look over at Hidaka's project he'd glare at me), and most of them were looping over and over about how I should be looking for Cocona right now, but I had no idea where to start. Papika was missing too, which was also kind of a worry. Buu didn't lead me to either of them, like I'd hoped, so I had no clue what was going on with either of them. I could only hope they were both safe, and that Asclepius hadn't caught up to them.

I reached into one of the pockets on my weapons belt and put my hand over the gun. _Did I need this any more?_ Probably not, but I didn't really want to leave it out in the open with Nyunyu around, there was still no telling what she could do. I was about to withdraw my hand when I felt something else in my pocket. A thin silver chain...

I pulled it out and dangled it in front of me. There was no mistaking it: the chain for the dragon-egg necklace Cocona gave me so long ago. Just the chain though, the stone itself was gone. _In the other world, that was an amorphous..._ It was the exact same chain from that world, the one I found in my jacket pocket, I was pretty sure of it. _So, have I got one complete necklace and two chains now?_ I dangled it in front of me... and Nyuynu happened to walk behind it, one of her eyes lined up at the very end of the chain where the 'dragon egg' would have been. That's when it struck me why the colour of her eyes was so familiar to me, I've had a gem of that exact same colour in my room for the past few years. I stuffed the silver chain back in my pocket and looked out the window again...

And that was when the snow began to fall.

"What the hell is that?" I mean, I knew _what_ it was, but it was way too warm for snow. _Is something happening to Pure Illusion?_

"Salt-san!" Sayuri's voice broke into my thoughts, and bought my attention to the large trench-coated figure who entered the building. He seemed... heavy. He wasn't overweight or anything, but the way he carried himself, it looked like he was struggling against some invisible force... It took me a second to realise it's because he was injured.

_I think I recognise him from somewhere..._

When he lifted his head and turned to me, I realised why. It was the guy in the shades, who I vaguely remembered saying I needed to leave Flip Flap as soon as possible, when I'd arrived there injured. I found myself glaring at him. _You let Papika take Cocona into Pure Illusion. Kind, innocent Cocona... She could have died, burnt up on arrival, and you still let her go..._

He turned to look at me, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. Upon seeing me, it looked a little as if some of his heaviness was lifted from him. _Why is that?_ He approached me, raising his right hand, which was tight in a fist. Normally, my paranoid self would have thought he was going to attack, but something about him told me that wasn't the case. Although he looked like a tough guy, and he probably wouldn't think twice about hitting someone he knew was an enemy, he didn't seem hostile in that moment.

"I need a favour," he said as he stood in front of me, his voice as heavy and rough as he looked right then. I raised my left hand to meet his right, and he opened his palm. I felt the power radiating from the tiny glowing shard before, before I felt the thing hit my palm, about as heavy as a coin.

"An amorphous?" _...you do know who you're giving this to, right?_ Or at least I assumed someone told him that I worked for Asclepius.

_Asclepius... You used to work for them too, back then... You knew everything that was going on... You let Cocona into Pure Illusion in the first place, knowing full well, that she could have friggin'_ died _just going there! You would have risked one of the kindest people in the world, just for some stupid shiny rocks? What the hell is_ wrong _with all of you?!_

"Save Papika-"

"Screw you!" I cut him off. _Wait a second, save Papika? What the hell happened to Cocona? They weren't together?! For frags sake, first she takes Cocona away from me, then she promises to keep her safe, and now she's gone and abandoned her?! What the hell?!_

"Why would I ever-"

He slumped forward, and for a second I thought he was going to collapse, or tackle me. Imagine my shock when I saw him bowed, hands, knees and head touching the floor, _begging_ , with me.

"Please"

The word hit me a lot more than I thought it would have. I was reminded of a silver haired girl who wanted to listen to the piano in the music rooms, and of a blue haired girl who tried to get me to stay at Flip Flap until I'd recovered. The only two people before who I'd ever heard the word from.

A part of me wanted to yell at him for all the things he was a part of, but he seemed so... desperate.

"Cocona has been taken to Pure Illusion by Mimi. We couldn't protect her. Please, save Papika and rescue Cocona for me. Please... Save my daughter."

"COCONA'S YOUR DAUGHTER?!" _YOU SENT YOUR OWN DAMN DAUGHTER INTO PURE ILLUSION?!_ Somehow, my shocked brain had another thought amongst those others:

_If it wasn't for Salt, I wouldn't have Cocona at all. She never would have been born..._

_And I really would have been all alone..._

I sighed. As much as I thought Salt was a madman, working for Asclepius in the first place, and then willingly allowing his daughter to go to Pure Illusion, I felt I owed him something. _He's the reason my best friend even exists after all..._ My fingers curled tightly around the amorphous, which briefly flared green, before it was enclosed in my palm.

"Fine... I'll do it."

* * *

Hidaka and Nyunyu connected the hoversurf prototype up to the big battery they were working on to charge it. Hidaka and Salt argued for a while about using it, but Salt won the argument, by telling Hidaka to look outside. "Reality is changing. We need to stop Mimi."

That was enough to convince him to get to work.

A few minutes later, I grabbed some grey cloth to use as a cape (there was no telling what would happen, it might come in handy), gave Salt the gun I'd taken from Nyunyu (also giving Nyunyu an order not to hurt Salt), and headed off to the place he last saw Papika.

I was kinda surprised to find myself back at Asclepius' lake where I'd met Yuya in the alternate Pure Illusion. Being around here made me wary enough... One thing that was different about this place (beyond the pink-haired girl who was lying curled up on the floor), was that the ground was entirely covered in white clovers... I didn't know if that's how it always was in this world, but if that other world was a perfect copy in almost every way, except for the people, then something must have changed here, because it was all grass in Pure Illusion. Whether it was a result of Pure Illusion influencing this world, like the snow, or whether Mimi had powers of her own, I didn't know, but I'll need to be more on my guard than ever.

Seeing Papika on the ground like that though... She looked defeated. It was such a big contrast to the constant ball of energy I normally thought of her as, that I started to feel kinda bad just looking at her. _Say something, Yayaka, before you get wrapped up in your own thoughts again._

"Don't you look down in the dumps?"

Papika blinked, suddenly alert. "Yayaka? ...Why?" She sounded pretty confused, understandably so, I was probably the last person she was excpecting to see.

"I'm not here because I want to be," _I'd rather go and search for Cocona in Pure Illusion by myself... but you can't go to Pure Illusion alone._ I couldn't really take Nyunyu with me. We'd only really met a couple of hours ago, and even then we hardly talked. I doubted we'd be compatible enough to travel there. Even then, I was doing Salt a favour in going to Papika. _We need to save Cocona._

"Are you gonna mope around forever?" I asked.

No response. _Come on, Papika, get moving!_ I reached into one of the pouches of my weapon belt and pulled out my collapsable water bottle, splashing the contents all over her. She pushed herself up from the ground, and looked at me, mad.

"Wha-"

"Shut up!" I cut her off before she could even speak. _We can't argue here. Not now. We need to get going, and there's only one way to do that_ "I'm asking you if you want to save Cocona!" I was almost yelling as I spoke to her. She still gave little in the way of reaction.

"Well..." Papika began, and never ended that thought. _What the hell is wrong with you?_

"Listen up, and listen good. I want to save Cocona." For some reason, it was then that my brain made a connection: Cocona had been born with an amorphous in her leg. Yuyu had called her 'Onee-sama' a couple of times, and she and Toto are amorphous children. Mimi was the one who first discovered Pure Illusion and the creator of the amorphous. _Cocona is Mimi's daughter..._ "I don't care if I have to go up against her mother or whatever!"

Honestly, it didn't bother me that I'd have to face Cocona's mother, who seemed to have unlimited power. Salt might have been an idiot for letting Cocona go into Pure Illusion, but if she was Mimi's child, that's probably what's kept her alive all this time. I began to dislike Salt a little less with that realisation. _He knew she would be safe at least..._ But Mimi on the other hand... I didn't know the person whose shards we'd been going after all this time belonged to Cocona's mother. _Cocona's mother, who abandoned her, and ran away to Pure Illusion..._ The action I almost took too, back at this very lake in the alternative world... _But I returned_. I returned to protect Cocona, even if it meant working with Asclepius for a while longer.

"I'll save her because she's my friend!" I declared it, loud and clear. As much as I might love Cocona, as much as I might be _in_ love with her, and as much as it hurts to admit it, it's clear she's chosen Papika over me. That wasn't going to change anything on my part though. Whatever happened, Cocona was still my best friend, and I was gonna do my damn best to keep her happy, alive and well. "What about you?"

Papika's sad, wide eyes blinked at me. "I..." She could still barely speak.

"Tch..."

I heard a noise behind me and turned to look. The trees and mountains in the landscape were becoming red and warped, as a portal to a snowy Pure Illusion was bleeding into existence. _We can't stay here._

"Pure Illusion...?" The appearance of the portals was finally enough to get Papika to stand up. "The first one I went to with Cocona?"

"Hop on. It's not safe here" I told Papika. _Come on, you idiot. I know you're sad, but you really can't stay here!_ She was a little slow to move, but eventually, she held out a hand for me to take.I pulled her up onto the hoversurf so she could stand and ride along behind me. She kept her hands gripped on my cape to help keep balance.

We took off and flew into the sky as soon as we could. I thought we might have been safer up here, but there were more red portals up here too, patchy blots, which showed the snowy world. I almost wondered if Mimi knew what was happening and she'd created all these portals to challenge us to come after her, as sooner or later, at this rate, we'd end up in one, whether we wanted to or not. _And if we did and me and Papika weren't ready..._ I thought back to when I was seperated from Toto and Yuyu because our thoughts weren't synched up. _Maybe it'll be worse this time because Mimi has direct control over it..._

"We can't keep running forever." I said, voicing my thoughts. There was a large black Hole up ahead, bordered by red flames, as if it was a dark sun. The snow from all the portals was staring to fall and melt into the dark lake below.

"You're right..." Papika said. Her usual, chipper voice was plagued by sadness. Her constant happiness and energy got on my nerves a lot of the time, but right now I wanted nothing more than for her to cheer up. "If this keeps up, the world will be in danger."

"To hell with that!" I yelled back at her. "That out-of-character crap isn't what I want to hear! That's not who you are!" _If anything, I'm the badass who'd do this to save the world!_

"I..." Papika's voice was weak, strained to start with. I felt her shift behind me, and once again, I felt a connection between us. The same connection and the same warmth from Pop's world, and the empty white world... It was also in that moment that I understood why I'd felt closer to Papika before Cocona when we piloted the mecha back then...

"I want to save Cocona because I love, love, _love_ her!"

_Because we both love Cocona with all our hearts, and we would do anything to protect her._ I couldn't keep the grin off my face. "Well said! We're winging this! No trail runs, okay?"

Papika nodded in agreement.

We had no weapons, no plan, no twins for backup, and I was going into a Pure Illusion I'd never been to before.

I felt Papika's warm hand take mine, pressing the amorphous further into my palm, as we flew into the Hole.

All we had here was each other.

I could only hope it was enough to save Cocona...

* * *

_Authors note: information about Sayuri, Hidaka and Salt came from an interview that was linked to the Flip Flappers TV Tropes page! Super huge thanks to whoever found the interview and posted it!_

_I've written about 7k words for Episode 12 so far, so the chapter will probably be split into parts when posted._


	16. Episode 12

Mimi _really_ didn't want us getting into Pure Illusion. Despite mine and Papika's feelings being the most in-synch with anyone I've ever been to Pure Illusion with, going through that portal into Pure Illusion was almost as bad as the one when I got seperated from the twins.

I mean, I was still in pain from Toto and Yuyu's attack on me in that other world, but this? This made it a whole ton worse. My teeth were vibrating in my skull, and my body felt like it was being stretched out to its limits, while simultaneously being crushed. I gripped Papika's hand even harder, trying to keep my mind on why we were travelling, and why we _had_ to make it through this.

Papika let out an unholy shriek of pain behind me. Moving was painful, but somehow I managed to turn my head to look at her. It was hard to make out, because this place seemed determined to pull every atom apart, I looked like I was watching everything through static on an old CRT TV...

No, wait... I wasn't watching it _through_ a TV at all, _it was actually happening._

I was witnessing Papika, almost literally falling apart behind me. My head began to tingle, and my body began to feel fuzzy and numb. _Is it happening to me too?_ I didn't look. _I can't lost focus now, and neither can Papika._

"Just hold on!" I shouted as loudly as I possibly could, but the volume of my voice may as well have been almost muted, to the point of although I could feel my lips and vocal chords moving, I'd begun to think I'd never said anything at all. I tried to talk again, but I couldn't breathe. I'd try and inhale, but there was no air, as if I was drowning. Everything began to dim and fade out.

An image of Cocona smiling flashed in my mind. _No! I can't lose hope! We can't give up!_ I squeezed Papika's hand as hard as I could. Her blue eyes wavered as she looked at me. My face was contorted in pain, and I could barely manage a nod of encouragement. She was turning see-through, and I could see the back of the hoversurf through her head. _Come on, you pink-haired idiot! Stay with me! We need to save Cocona!_

I could barely feel a light pressure being returned on my hand before the world went dark...

* * *

 

Daylight.

Snow.

Air.

Fresh cold air.

I took a deep breath as we burst out the portal into Pure Illusion. It was dry, and it scratched my throat a little, but it was so, _so_ nice to be able to breathe again.

"We got through" I said, relieved. I didn't think we'd make it. _Is that the power of mine and Papika's bond?_

"Isn't this..." Papika seemed to be distracted by the world below us. Looking down, I saw a frozen world. Tower-like trees lumpy with snow dotted across a white, fluffy landscape. It looked like we'd just taken a vacation to a really cold place, rather than just gone through a portal into another dimension... well, if it wasn't for the fact the sunset here seemed to bathe everything in a greenish light. _There's probably a thousand snowy worlds out there... But Papika wouldn't have spoken if there wasn't something familiar to her about this one._

"Hey, do you recognise this place?" I asked her. She didn't really answer and looked down at the snow-topped trees below us, before trying to sniff the air.

"I smell Cocona!"

"What?" I mean, I know she's commented on various scents before, but being able to track someone like that, who wasn't even in sight "As if-"

"I can tell! That's how much I love her!" Papika's big blue eyes stared into mine, as if trying to challenge me to say otherwise. _Well, if she's sensitive to all those other smells, she could well be telling the truth... and why would she lie about something like that now? Even then, it's not like we have anything else to go on..._ I turned my attention ahead of us again, and asked Papika which way to go.

"That way!"

"Hang on tight!"

The sky melted from a paler green to a darker one, eventually into a star-strewn black as time went by. Papika guided me in silence the rest of the way, her arms (which were wrapped around my waist) pressed a little more into my side when she wanted me to go in that direction. I've never really flown a hoversurf before, and wondered if I should have just let Papika take over as she had far more experience with it than I did, but I admit, I was having fun flying around in the sky like this. I doubt Asclepius would have given me a hoversurf if I asked for one though, even if I came up with an excuse like 'it'd help us find amorphous faster', they didn't want to risk wasting any more parts than they had to, what with so many robotic failures they've tried to get into Pure Illusion before.

Even then, if me and Papika swapped places, it'd be more precious time wasted in trying to save Cocona, we _really_ couldn't afford to spend any longer than we already were on our rescue mission.

As the sky darkened, a snake of light below began to shine through the trees. I wondered what the hell it was at first, my first thought being a river made of literal moonlight, when I saw a black dot floating on the shining surface. _Is that a boat?_

"Cocona!" Papika called down, answering my question. I thought as I set the hoversurf into an immediate dive for the boat, only to brake a couple of seconds later, when a woman in a white dress with red eyes and long blue hair appeared, hovering, in front of us. Papika shifted, trying to keep steady at the sudden stop and tried to get a look over my shoulder. It looked a little like the person Yuya transformed into back at the lake.

"Who are you?" _And why are you standing between us and Cocona?_

The woman blinked, before cocking her head to the side a tiny amount and returned my question with another. "Who are _you?_ "

"Cocona's bud."

The woman's head tilted over to her other shoulder, in the same manner. "'Bud'?" She asked, confused by the term.

"Her friend!" I yelled. _What do you care? Out of the way!_

"Oh? Aren't you the only one who feels that way?" Her voice wasn't particularly loud, but every word was piercing. I knew there was a possibility Cocona would hate me after the truth about me was told, hell, I held off saying because it was the reaction from her I feared the most, but hearing this person say that... Any bravado I had was quickly going away, completely taken aback. _I... I can't be the only one who feels that way. Cocona still has to be my friend... right?_

Papika's hand brushed lightly against mine, trying to reasure me. _I'm not alone here._

"Step aside, Mimi" Papika said.

"Why should I? Cocona doesn't want to see you." Mimi replied to Papika before turning her bright red eyes back to me. "She hates liars."

Even though I was expecting to hear something along those lines, I still recoiled as if I was physically struck. _I am a liar. I can't deny that. I've had multiple chances to tell Cocona the truth in all the time I've known her, and I never did._ The shame and guilt I felt came rushing back, and I could only look down. In doing so, I saw Cocona. She was on a small boat floating down the moonlight river staring up at the three of us, blankly. _All those stories you've told me, all the cream bread you've given me, and just the simple fact you cared about me... I've never deserved any of it._

"Let me see her!" Papika demanded.

"Do you have an answer this time, then?" Mimi asked. _An answer?_ Seeking a distraction from my thoughts, I turned my attention back to the conversation that was still being had.

"Who do you really want back?" Mimi asked. "Cocona, or-"

"Both!" Papika cut her off. "My dear Cocona, and my gentle Mimi!" She took a step closer to us on the hoversurf "Give them both back!" _Give them_ both _back? But aren't we talking to Mimi right now?_

"I see..." came Mimi's reply, after a short while. Her eyes were closed.

"Go, Yayaka!" Papika yelled. The fact she was talking to me all of a sudden threw me off, but I knew what she wanted me to do. _Go for Cocona while Mimi's distracted._

"Gotcha!" I said, taking us into a dive, heading for the boat below us. Cocona... There was something wrong with her. She looked... blank. I would have thought the fact she was seeing people she used to consider friends at one point would have left her with a bigger reaction rather than just staring. I've never seen those brown eyes so empty before... But as I thought that, there seemed to be a spark of recognition. I reached out a hand for her as we got closer. _I know you hate me, but Mimi isn't safe to be around, she's destroying the world! We only want to help you!_

Maybe my thoughts were written all over my face, or maybe Cocona could sense something from me, I don't know, but slowly, surely, she raised her hand, just the slightest bit ready to meet mine...

Suddenly the world became a warped kaleidoscope of red. Papika and I barely had time for confused noises before we found ourselves teleported somewhere else.

My hands gripped rusted and flaking metal. I tried to take a step backwards, only to bump into Papika. A quick look at our surroundings told me we were in a cramped cage. Whereever this world was, the colours of everything seemed flipped around. Papika's hair was yellow, and mine blue, and our clothing had completely changed were being lowered down on a cable into a bright purple liquid, which fogged around us.

"What's going on?" _Are we in some kind of factory?_ The bars of our cage were starting to get pretty warm, harder to keep a hold onto. I was just about to ask where the hoversurf had gotten to, when it fell in front of us, and into the purple liquid below. Upon coming into contact with it, a waft of heat and bright yellow flames flared up from below. _Is this an incinerator?!_ Sweat was pouring off my face. My mind took me back to the first part of Pure Illusion I'd ever arrived in, with the red sky and the searing heat. Once again I could see the skeletons and empty skulls of other kids. _We're gonna burn up! We're trapped!_ _How the crap are we gonna get out of here?!_

My fingers curled around the bars tightly, as I was trying not to explode from panic. It was probably one of the worst things I could do in this situation, I was gonna end up with burns on my hands, but I just didn't know what to do. My heart was pounding like crazy, and all I could hear was blood rushing in my ears as background noise to a flurry of thoughts that went something like this: _We're gonna burn. I'm gonna end up like those other kids Asclepius sent to Pure Illusion. I can't die like this. Please, not like this..._

Papika said something while I was caught up in my thoughts. I didn't register a single word she said, but she seemed alarmed for a second, but also like she recognised the place. She hadn't given in to panic, and instead called out "Flip Flapping!"

The walls of the cage tore apart as the blue light flared out from Papika's body, and I grabbed onto her. At the same time, she threaded her arms under mine, catching me, as the bottom of the cage fell into oblivion.

"Tch..." I was meaning to try and thank Papika for saving me then, but all I could make was that annoyed noise as I got mad at myself for freezing up in that situation. _What good am I?_

"Where's Cocona?" Papika asked. I didn't answer. There was a noise from above us and we both looked up to see the amorphous we were holding ealrier. Something else caught my attention though. While Papika continued to be distracted by the glowing blue shard above us, I saw a loose cage flying towards us. Reacting quickly, I bought up a leg and kicked Papika in the stomach to get her out of the way, just in time, as it passed barely an inch in front of her face. I shot her a glare, trying to get a silent message across. _Stay alert, Papika!_ I don't know if Mimi threw it at us or what, she was nowhere to be seen, but I wouldn't have put it past her. _She was still watching us somehow._ I was convinced of that.

I fired a wire from my weapon belt as soon as I could, trying to get to a solid surface as quickly as possible. Managing to hook myself onto one of the cords that dragged the cages down, I swung myself around, and kicked off another cage to catch the amorphous. _No way in hell Mimi is taking that from us._

"Where's the exit?" I called out to Papika.

"This way!" Her voice was distant. I saw she'd landed on the wall, at the entrance to a large circular tunnel. "I've been here with Cocona before!" She said, as she hopped down. I followed as quickly as I could.

The instant we touched down, there was a loud whirring of a machine behind us. I didn't want to look back, but I could hear the metal scraping and grinding as it chased us down the corridor. I didn't have my headgear with me, much to my annoyance, my speed booster would have been _really_ useful right about now, but I was holding an amprhous at least. It seemed to give me power enough make sure my pace could keep ahead of it.

Only just.

CRASH!

_Did it just get closer?_ I risked a look around, and saw large metal teeth gnashing behind us. If I stuck an arm out towards it, I was pretty sure it'd be snapped up, gone, in a second.

"Are we there yet?" _Please tell me we're almost there..._

"That way!"

I looked ahead of me again. We were heading towards the end of the tunnel, which was a relief... but then I saw the two pillars of angry buzzsaws blocking the way out. There wasn't a gap between them you could step through, not without anyone who tried ending up a bloody mess on the walls. _...Papika has to be joking._

"Don't kid around!" _This really isn't the time for that!_

"I'm not kidding around! I'm going to save Cocona!"

_'And we have to go through_ there _?!'_ Was what the part of me that was still sane wanted to yell. ' _We're being chased by a machine that'd bite us in two if we stopped running, after just having gotten out of being burnt alive, and our only exit ends in sawblades that could rip us to ribbons!'_

So naturally, I found myself smiling instead, not once breaking my pace. _Me too, Papika. It's just another day risking my life in Pure Illusion after all, but this time, my mission has some meaning to it._

_We're going to save Cocona._

We were getting closer to the exit. Papika held a gooey blue orb in her hands, ready to shoot ahead of us.

"You'll have to go through as soon as the blades stop!" She said. I nodded, trying to keep any terror I felt in place.

I had to put all of my faith in someone I hated and wanted nothing more to do with a week ago.

There wasn't any time for a practice run.

There would be no second chances.

Failure meant the end of the world.

"Go!" Papika cried, launching the orb ahead of us, casting an aura of blue light as it flew through the tunnel. Did I trust Papika enough to run through the blades as soon as her attack struck them?

I didn't even hesitate.

* * *

 

Either Mimi forced us through another Hole, or we ended up making one ourselves by mistake, all I know is the next thing I knew was the world stunk strongly of oil pastels... And had a black sky, with white webbing, and a multi-coloured floor...

_I've been here before._

"Ow..." came Papika's voice from next to me. I didn't turn around to look at her, I was a little preoccupied at the moment by the four brightly-coloured spider monsters that'd surrounded us.

"Are you serious?!" My hopes back at the lake that Mimi could be reasoned with were completely dashed now, if the fact she tried to fry us both earlier hadn't already done that. Papika managed to take a spider like that out before with her twin energy guns back then, but I had a feeling taking on four might have been a bit much, even if I was there to help her.

But even then, we were still pretty screwed. The most I could do was be a distraction. _Couldn't Toto and Yuyu have given me some explosives or something before they went back to Asclepius?_

Thinking of the twins, I had a look down at the amorphous in my hand. Green flecks of light swam underneath its crystal-blue surface. _If I saved Yuyu from the lake with an amorphous, maybe I can do something here..._

_But what? How the hell do these things work?_

"Yayaka!" Papika's warning barely got to me before the blue spider speared me with one of its legs, I had just enough time to roll out of the way. _Telling Papika off for not being alert earlier... I need to follow my own damn advice..._

I shot a grappling wire to a spot beyond the two spiders (yellow and blue) that decided I'd be the most fun to mess around with, and zipped along past them. I looked up to see Papika practically dancing around, avoiding the stabbing legs of the white and pink spiders.

All four of the spiders were between me and Papika. _Okay, that was a dumb move on my part..._ I should have tried to get myself closer to the only one of us who could attack properly, rather than get myself away from them. Annoyingly enough, Papika made a similar move: She hopped backwards away from the pink and white spiders, and therefore, put more distance between the two of us... That's what I thought at first. It looked like she was trying to skirt around the side of all the spiders so she could try and get to me. The pink spider noticed though, and quickly moved to block her, shooting a couple of lasers her way. Papika quickly got her scaled shoulder shields in front of her, ready to deflect the attack.

The blue and yellow spiders were making their way towards me, while the pink one went to block Papika. _I can't stand around and watch!_ I fired a wire in Papika's direction, sliding under the belly of the blue spider (the eyes of which all moved across its body to follow me... That was pretty creepy) and tried to get over to her. Quickly, I fired another wire, but this time, aiming for the pink spider's legs. I didn't have my speed booster, so I had to try my best to run rings around the monster. _Maybe if I can hold it still..._

The pink spider's focus switched from Papika to me, all the eyes swimming around the body as I circled it.

BEWWWW!

I'd just managed to duck under the laser it shot, and it missed my head by an inch. Thankfully, it didn't damage my wires, they were still wrapped around the thin pointed legs. Papika caught sight of me amongst the chaos, and nodded at me. She leapt up into the air, twin laser guns ready in her hands, and opened fire. Her blue shots bounced off the pink spider's body. _Come on, you idiot! You've taken one of these things out before!_

"Yayaka!" Papika called my name again. Once again, I found myself having to deal with the blue spider as I tried to run rings around the pink. I'd noticed earlier the creature's legs were detached from their bodies, but when I saw the blue orb of the spider that'd just ran for me _float over the pink one_ , while the blue one's legs were still trying to skewer me...

I was pretty thankful I'd done so much running around in the alternate Pure Illusion, when I was trying to find the twins. I've always been pretty agile, but dashing around so much and making so many sharp turns and snap descisions on which alleyways to go down... yeah, it was definitely saving my life here.

I wondered why the blue spider had tried to detach itself from its legs, when I just about caught sight of bright cyan hair fly out from between the two monster's bodies. Papika whirled around mid-air and aimed her twin guns at the eyes on the pink one I'd tied up. The shots hit their mark, and the pink spider's body erupted into yellow flames, some of which managed to catch the eyes on the blue spider, setting off a chain reaction, as that one too, burst into fire.

The severed legs that were stabbing at me clattered to the floor, before disolving into nothing.

_Two down... two to go._ It was probably pure luck that we were attacked in that exact way, and that it was enough to take out half of the enemies we were facing, but I wasn't complaining. While I stood there, trying to get my breath back from all the running, Papika took up a fighting stance next to me, and I felt the strong bond between us again. _Had we subconciously known what the other was planning?_ It was possible. _But at the same time, this feels way too easy... Is there another force at work here?_

All of a sudden, Papika shoved me to the side, as the white and yellow spiders came barreling towards us. I watched the white one's legs stab where I was standing a few seconds ago, before it went to target Papika. The yellow one changed direction to meet me.

_I can't rest now... Cocona needs me..._ Although I was tired out, I forced myself to my feet, and just about managed to step aside in time as the yellow one shot a beam at me. I wasn't quite so lucky with its next move, as it easilly managed to swipe a leg under mine, forcing me back on the ground. My hands just about managed to scrabble for my grappling wire and managed to fire a shot off, just as it bought down a leg to impale me, barely missing, as my wire pulled me along the floor.

"Little help, Papika?" I yelled. Probably not too smart a move on my account, as it could bring the white spider's attention on me too, but I was really struggling here. If I had weapons, I would have been fine. Rockets could have taken them all out in one go, but I didn't have those. My knife was taken from my weapon belt along with those. All I had were my wires, and although they were the most reliable thing I had, I doubted they'd to enough to defeat a spider, even with a precise strike through the eye.

The yellow spider fired a laser, and I closed my eyes tight. I had no time to move.

I was certain I was gonna die.

Waves of heat washed over me, and the darkness behind my eyelids went from black to a blazing yellow.

_Huh... I always thought it would hurt more than this..._

Hell, there wasn't any pain at all. _What's going on here?_

"You okay?" That perky voice made me open my eyes, and I saw a girl with long cyan hair and pink eyes standing in front of me. Papika's scaled shoulder shields formed a large barrier at her back, keeping us both safe from the firey explosion behind her. Her twin guns were gone, and instead two bright blue orbs sat on the ends of her gloves. I heard the clatter of the yellow spider's legs hit the ground, it's body having been destroyed, before they disappeared. _Three down... One to go._

"Yeah-" I just about managed to get the word out, when I saw the last spider, the white one, preparing to shoot. I put a hand on Papika's head, pushing her down to the ground, and ducked down myself.

BEEEEWWWW!

Her shield held, and we were both safe from the blast, but if I hadn't forced her to move, her head would have been vapourised. There were thuds against the ground as the spider came closer, and the laser burning into Papika's shield began to peek over the edge of it in a blinding round of light, which forced me to close my eyes. I was about to panic, as although I was looking through my eyelids now, that the laser's light had gotten _brighter_ , and I could smell some of the hair on my head start to burn as the spider came closer. _Move, Yayaka! Move!_ I tried to mentally scream at myself, to get moving, but body wouldn't listen. Mostly because as loud as those thoughts were, there were others underneath... Ones that just wouldn't shift... _I'm going to burn... My flesh will melt from my bones, until all I am is just another skeleton..._

At that moment, as if sensing how my fear was freezing me in place, Papika's arms found their way around my shoulders, and she pulled me close to her body, keeping me away from the blast. I could hear her heart beating in her chest, just as frantically as mine. _She's just as scared as I am..._

Being there in her arms made me think back to the alternate world Pure Illusion, with Cocoka having hugged me in our sleep, and how I could believe she'd charge a monster, just to keep me safe. _Hasn't Papika been doing exactly that?_ I began to feel bad. _I really thought she hated me, and yet she's doing all of this to protect me..._

_Now it's my turn._

In a way, I guess it was a good thing the white spider was slow to approach. It gave me some time to recover and work out a plan... I couldn't really do much, as all I had was my grappling wires, but I wanted to do _something_ to help out, and they were all I had.

The sound of the spider's laser grew as it stepped closer to us. I ran my hands over my weapon belt, seeking my grappling wires. I wasn't going to shoot them though. Not yet. Instead, I unravelled them and felt around, trying to find Papika's blue-orbed gloves. Thankfully, with her arms being around me currently, they were pretty easy to find. Now if those blue orbs were gooey like her attacks were...

"What are you doing?" Papika asked, her voice loud with fear.

"We can win this," I said, trying to sound a lot more confident than I felt. "It can't shoot forever, it's probably getting closer so it can attack with its legs." As if on cue, the sound from its laser died down, and the light around us faded from 'looking directly into the sun' to 'staring into a fireplace' and I could open my eyes again. In doing so, I was pretty glad to see my theory was right. As I pulled the wire through the blue orbs on the edges of Papika's gloves, the wire became dotted with shiny blue slime.

"You can make this stuff explode, right?" I asked her. Papika opened her eyes at that point too, and looked at the wire I was holding. She nodded.

"Take this," I said, handing the length of wire to her "and blow up that last spider."

"Okay!" She grabbed it from my hands, with a smile. At that moment, the light from the laser died out completely. Papika let me go and jumped away, while I got up and ran from the white spider, just as a leg was about to skewer me.

As curious as I was to know what was going on, I didn't risk looking over my shoulder. My ears didn't really tell me anything either...

BOOM!

...Not until that at least. I turned around as I watched Papika leap from the top of the white spider's body and I watched it go up in flames. Papika landed next to me, both of us were panting, exhausted. My legs felt as heavy as lead, and it was a struggle to lift my arms. _I don't know how much more of this I can endure..._

Annoyingly enough, the world shifted, becoming a kaleidoscope of red again again. The scent of oil pastels disappeared, along with the solid land at our feet, and sank a little into orange sand. For a second I thought it whatever it was was going to swallow me entirely, and honestly? A part of me wouldn't have minded right then if that happened to me. _But I can't give up now. We might both be tired as hell, but we still haven't rescued Cocona yet. We need to keep going!_

It took me a second to realise this was the Iron Boy's desert world, with the black stars in the white sky. _We'd better not get mobbed here..._ Papika seemed to recognise the place just as soon as I did, and we both took a step towards the other, so we were back-to-back, alert.

I reached into a pocket of my weapons belt, and my hand closed around two Asclepius ration bars. For once in my life, I was glad I had a hold of these dry, tasteless things, something told me we were gonna need the energy.

"Hey," I said, taking a bite of one of them, and holding the other out for Papika, "You eat up too."

"Can I really?" She sounded pretty surprised at my offer. _Not sure I could blame her for that though, I haven't exactly been the nicest person to her..._

"Yeah. This place looks like trouble."

We looked around at the vast expanse of rolling dunes, but saw nothing. I was expecting a wave of Iron Boys to come rushing towards us, brandishing all sorts of weapons, or maybe a giant sand worm would rise up from underneath before we could even act...

But no.

When we finally saw the enemy, it was just a small girl in a pink long-sleeved dress, and some kind of clay helmet...

And piercing red eyes.

I knew she was the enemy right away, because of those eyes. It wasn't the same shade of ruby-red of the twins I've found to be full of more than they first appeared... This red was violent. Sharp. Dangerous...

The shape of the entire girl twisted, wrapping around itself, until standing in front of us was a humanoid female being. Her skin was some kind of grey, which was patterned by tentacle or flame-like black shapes. A pale purple tear-drop shaped gem seemed to sit on her chest as a part of her body, a contrast to her veil of blonde hair... Looking at her made me feel a bit uneasy, not just because of the eyes, but... she seemed to resemble me. Even if those similarities were slight, it was a lot more of myself than I really wanted to see in someone else.

"I remember you," she said. I had no idea what she was talking about, this was the first time I'd seen her before... And then an image flashed in my mind of a large spider-like monster that looked like it was layered, or wrapped in bandages, with bulging green, red and black eyes... _No... I_ have _seen her before..._ I don't think she had a name, or not one that she was ever called out loud, but for some reason, like when I sat in the truck in Pop's world the answer to that flashed in my mind all of a sudden. _Welwitschia._

"What you did to me really hurt, you know?" Welwitschia said.

"It's her!" Papika said, around a mouthful of food, recognising our opponent.

Upon hearing Papika's voice, Welwitschia's eyes lit up a bright violet and a sinister smile pulled at the corners of her lips, far higher than a normal human was capable of. "I'll repay you..." came the threat, and as soon as she spoke, thick black tentacles flared around her, before she launched herself into the sky. The world went dark momentarily as she blotted it out, in a star of shadow.

Papika and I had just about time to move before the tentacles rained down on us like lightning. Welwitschia punctuated each strike with a word "By beating... crushing... smashing... and pulverising you to death!"

She'd gone from targetting us both at first, to narrowing it down to just me. _I guess I was the one who blew her up after all..._ I abandoned my cape at that point, it was catching the wind, and causing me to run slower than I would have liked. I tried throwing it backwards, hoping it'd hit Welwitschia, maybe giving me a break from her barrage, but no such luck. The cape was swept away into the orange wasteland, while I was trying my best to stay alive.

While I was keeping Welwitschia busy, Papika had launched an attack of her own, a couple of blue orbs flying down to meet Welwitschia in an explosion.

You might find it a bit odd that I was terrified of burning to death earlier, but don't bat an eye when something blows up. That's easy. You can run away from explosions, hell I've been doing it all my life, but being surrounded by searing heat? No thank you.

Welwitschia had managed to cocoon herself in a barrier of white strands, and had taken no damage. Papika didn't seem too happy about her attack not having an effect.

"You stay out of this!" Welwitschia hissed at her. The white strands reacher out for Papika then, tying her up. "I get that you want me to make you feel good, but you'll have to get in line."

While Welwitschia's back was turned to me, I fired off one of my grappling wires, aiming for her neck. Despite my eye being covered, I hit my target, and pulled, trying to tighten the wire.

"And it's my turn right now, right?" I asked, trying to taunt her.

Welwitschia turned to face me with a sneer. "Is this the kind of thing you're into?"

"Yeah, keep talking." I tried to sound confident that I was somehow hurting her, but she didn't seem bothered by my attack in the slightest. _If I could just buy time for Papika to free herself-_

A gasp escaped my throat as I suddenly found myself wrapped in tentacles. I had no idea where they'd come from, I swear she didn't even move, but it was definitely her. They were slowly winding around me, dry and slithering, as they curled, crushing me. Breathing was getting difficult.

"How's that? Does it feel good?" Welwitschia's grip on me tightened, and I know I shouldn't have done so, but I screamed, wasting what little precious air I still had in my lungs. _I can't die like this!_

Suddenly, I was whipped around, until I was hanging upside down in front of Welwitschia, struggling for breath.

"Hey, where are your cute partners?" She asked, "Did it take three of you to do the work of one? Can't do anything by yourself?"

Her words were getting to me, finding little cracks and clawing their way into my skull, trying to fill me with doubt. Man, I wish Yuyu was here, I wanted nothing more in that moment than for her to smack that stupid smug look off Welwitschia's face with a nice heavy punch. _But me wanting Yuyu here... wouldn't that just prove her right? Hell, I have Papika here with me, and we can't take her down... I have to get out of here myself!_ I attempted to move to try hoping maybe I could reach my weapon belt and find some way I could get her to release me, but the tentacles squeezed a little tighter as I tried. My lungs were burning, screaming for air I couldn't get, and my vision was starting to go dark and spotty.

"Ah! So they decided you were no longer useful..." Welwitschia continued to taunt.

_No... That was Asclepius..._ The twins were a part of Asclepius, but I knew they felt differently about me. They'd both saved my life on multiple occasions... _But was that under Asclepius' orders? Do they only like me because that's how Asclepius programmed them?_ I tried to think back to all the times we were together before. How they've saved my life countless times, and most recently, how Toto and Yuyu made sure to hold back on thier attacks so I'd only need medical attention rather than flat-out kill me. _...But what if Asclepius made them that way? Made it so they couldn't kill me, even if they wanted to..._

"Shut up..." Somehow I managed to force those words out of me. _I have to do something..._ I was gonna pass out at this rate. _Is there anything I can do?_ My hands were pressed tight against me, no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't access anything in my weapon's belt...

But there was still something in my hand...

_The amorphous..._

I still had no idea how it worked, but I saved Yuyu in another world, so I had _some_ power.

What did Papika and Cocona say before? That they could grant wishes? I closed my eyes and searched my mind.

_What would I wish for...?_ I answered that question what felt like a lifetime ago in another Pure Illusion. I wanted a companion, just someone I could hang out with and be with...

_And I could never have that if I died here..._

_I could never save Cocona if I died here..._

_I'd never see the twins again... Or the people at Flip Flap..._

_I wish I could stop Welwitschia._

A white flash filled my vision and something, I think was a loud 'boom' deafened me. I was thrown backwards. I felt strangely free, lying there on my back. For a second I thought I was dead, but then the pain slowly worked its way through me. This was worse than how I felt after the twin's attack. My bones felt like they would shatter if I moved just a little too much. I could breathe again, and although it was nice to be able to do that, it felt like I was inhaling icicles. I thought I could feel a thin trail of blood working its way down from my mouth, falling into the sand. _Is that why the sand is orange...? Is it from the blood of many battles that were fought here...?_

My hearing was coming back a little, I think Papika yelled my name, and it sounded vaguely like she was trying to warn me about something, but my body wouldn't react. I was mentally shouting at myself, trying to convince my arms to move, but that felt like too much. I could barely open my eyes (the eyepatch was blasted away in the explosion).

"The amorphous..." The words were barely a whisper. My fingers twitched. And twitched again... I tried to shift the rest of my arm, so I could grab it. It was barely three inches from my hand, and it felt like an impossible task... It hurt to move. Slowly, I managed. I only gripped the little blue gem lightly, it felt like the tips of my fingers were bruised, and I was in enough pain already. Just a little more felt like it would kill me.

_I'm useless. Papika had broken us out of the metal cages in the incinerator, and saved us from the spiders... and all I have is this stupid shiny stone..._

_I can't do this..._

I wanted nothing more than to cry. I knew Welwitschia was still around somewhere. Why she was taking her time to kill me, I didn't know, maybe she had fun playing with her prey. _Couldn't she just kill me quickly? ...No. I probably didn't deserve even that..._

_I'm sorry, Cocona. I've failed you..._

Everything was turning green...

"Yayaka! Your treasure!" Papika's voice broke into my thoughts.

"What?"

"Think about what you treasure most!"

"What the hell is she talking about?" _Is she trying to help me out of my misery, by getting my last thoughts to be about something nice? ...Or is there something else?_

Although all I could see was green, it looked like the background had faded out into shadow. _Welwitschia's here to finish me off..._

"Tch..." I was gonna be dead in a few seconds. Papika seemed to want me to think about something I treasured... She was full of nonsense most of the time, but something about those words... Despite the pain it caused, I closed the amorphous in my fist. The green light faded, leaving only shadow in my sights. _It would all be over soon anyway, so what does it matter?_

_What I treasure most..._ A number of images flashed through my mind. Toto and Yuyu in the medical room, watching me as we went our seperate ways. _They've been with me through so much... I wanted to give them the experiences Asclepius never let them have..._ A magenta haired man, and a friendly woman, both working on various things in Flip Flap Zero passed through my mind. _I never thanked Sayuri and Hidaka for the flowers... Hidaka didn't seem to like me too much, but they both helped me out by letting me stay there and healing me..._ Even a vision of Papika with her big stupid grin appeared. _I've been pretty unfair to you in the past, when you've been a very good ally to me here... maybe even a friend. Hell, you've saved my life, more than once, and all I've done is hate you... I'm sorry, Papika..._

Finally, Cocona's face floated in my mind. _Those warm brown eyes, that kind and gentle smile she'd give me... That soft hair like the night sky... The stories she told me of all these people and their adventures... The one who cared about me when no one else would... The most precious person in my life..._

"If this dumb thing can grant wishes... I wish I could see her, just one more time." Despite the pain I was in, I found myself smiling at the thought of her. "At first I was only acting under orders, but then I found where I belonged..." Memories flashed before my eyes. Standing on the train going to school. Me and her hiding from Papika in the nurse's office. Cocona sitting on the edge of the pool, watching Papika with such a tender look. **((** _ **A look I wish she'd give me...))**_ The day we met at the hospital, and she told her grandmother she'd made a friend... And finally, the memory of her giving me the dragon-egg necklace, with the hopes it would stop me from getting hurt again. Without really thinking about it, my free hand had managed to fish around in my pockets to find the silver chain, and I clasped that hand around the one containing the amorphous. "Next to her, where I loved to be...

"I have to apologise..."

_I can't die here._

_Not yet._

_I have so many things I need to do!_

"I don't know if you'll ever forgive me for lying to you all these years," _I understand if you hate me. I never deserved to know you..._ "but I'm so sorry!"

Tears spilled down my face, dripping onto the shadow in the sand. _Welwitschia's going to kill me before I have the chance to do any of these things... Can you hear me, right now, whereever you are?_ I could only beg to whatever forces may be around that my message would make it to her before I died.

_I love you, Cocona._

"If you can find it in your heart to forgive me... Can we be friends again?"

A brilliant green light shone through the cracks of my fingers... I was gripping the amorphous tightly, but my hand no longer hurt... Heck, _nothing_ hurt any more. If anything... I felt _powerful._

"Yayaka!" Papika's voice was happy, loud. The smile on my face grew when I realised what was happening. _What this meant I could do._

"What I treasure most..." I pushed myself to my feet, easilly, keeping a tight grip on the glowing green shard and the chain in my hands. I raised them to my chest, over my heart, feeling the strength and warmth flowing through me, and yelled to the sky "...Is Cocona!

"Flip Flapping!"

I didn't care if yelling that out was embarassing any more. I could transform! My hair had lengthened and turned bright green, as my clothes changed into those of a magical girl's (similar to Cocona and Papika's when they transformed).

The first thing I did with my newfound powers was get out of the way of Welwitschia's attack (and just in time too, I was half a second from getting crushed). Man, I was _fast!_... I mean, I know I was pretty fast before, but this was _way_ quicker than I've ever been. I was practically _skating_ over the sand dunes with just a light kick of my feet, leaving trails of yellow light as I went. Asclepius speed booster was _nothing_ compared to this! I felt like I could run a lap around the world, and not even break a sweat!

_No time for running now, though! Papika's captured, and Cocona's still in danger, I need to fight!_

I probably didn't need to duck and weave my way around Welwitschia, it didn't even seem like she was moving at all. By the time she finally realised something was going on, I'd already hopped 15 feet into the air and was looking down on the red-green-black eyed spider monster she'd become.

_Now... I need a weapon..._ As if responding to my thoughts, I could feel the boots on my feet get heavier, and become more solid. I set myself into drop kick, landing one blow, before bounding, pivoting, and leaping into another heavy kick. I don't know how much time actually past, but I felt like I was letting off at least 5 different hits a second. The only time Welwitschia moved, was when I hit her. At the rate I was going, you'd probably have needed Toto's processing power to even _think_ about trying to hit me back.

The monsterous spider had collapsed after my barrage. Landing a distance away, I thought I'd try something else this time. _I know I can go fast, and I can kick like hell... What else can I do?_ Green lightning flared around my legs in response. _Papika has a ranged attack..._ I swung my legs around, trying to shape the lightning into a ball. I've tried soccer a few times before, I was a pretty decent shot, but I never enjoyed it enough to want to join the club. My skills from those days came in handy now though. Twisting around, I slammed the lightning ball with my foot, towards a helpless Welwitschia.

_Goal!_

Now, if that was a real soccer ball I'd kicked into a goalpost, it would have uprooted the goal from the ground and probably sent hurtling it into the next country. Although that would have been pretty funny to see, the cloud of fire that burst from the sand as my attack struck home, was a beautiful sight.

Now Welwitschia was out of the way, I turned my attention to Papika, and swung my foot towards her. Darts of sharp green light shot from the end of my boot, cutting Papika free from her cocoon. She raised her hands and looked at them, disbelieving. _Maybe she didn't think I'd cut her loose..._ She turned to look up at me, with a happy smile in thanks.

I realised that I was still glaring from all my attacks on Welwitschia. _Papika's not my enemy._ My face fell neutral when I looked into her innocent pink eyes. _She never was. Working together here, she never complained. I could hardly do anything this whole time, and she never made me feel bad about it. She just helped carry me through. Even when I was working for Asclepius, she saved my life... She's not as bad as I thought she was._

I think I was finally starting to understand why Cocona loved her so much.

Beacuse I was starting to love Papika too.

As a friend, but still. I shot back an smile of my own, a mix of awkward, embarrassed, and apologetic.

We both nodded and hopped into the air, ready to chase down Mimi and Cocona, only to find they were hovering in a white boat just a short distance away. _Were they here the whole time?_

Doesn't matter.

"Give Cocona back!" We both called.

At that point, Mimi had suddenly teleported out of the boat and was standing in front of us.

"Cocona can't make her own choices, so I must make all the descisions for her so she doesn't lose her way." she said, clasping her hands in front of her. She looked... pleading, like she was trying to get us to understand. _What a load of..._

"That ain't right!" I yelled. _Everyone should be free to choose whatever they want!_

Mimi blinked, and put a hand to her mouth, shocked. "My, even when you transform into such a cute little thing, I see your mouth is still filthy."

"Oh _,_ screw you!" _Who cares what you think? You abandoned her and left her alone for most of her life, then all of a sudden you pop up and try and force Cocona into doing things she might not want to do! You don't even know her!_

"Why are you trying to take Cocona's mother away from her?" Mimi asked. _We're not trying to do that at all! Stop twisting our words!_

Papika spoke next, "You know deep down that this is all wrong!"

"That's not true," Mimi replied. "This is what Cocona and I both wanted."

"No! I mean-" Papika's voice cut off. The black-starred sky shattered like a broken window, fragmenting into red, as the world changed around us.

"Tch. Not again..." _This is getting really annoying..._ Again, we were somewhere familiar. Impossibly tall towers of light, patterned with circuit board-like designs stretched on for eternity below us. _Pop's world..._

"No fair!" Papika said, echoing my thoughts.

_Wait. If we're in Pop's world again, and we're fighting enemies we've already fought before then..._

_Oh no..._

The giant monster had just landed in front of us at that very moment. If me and Papika weren't up in the air, we would have had a hard time standing up from the shockwave that rattled the floor, although saying that, the force of it landing was still enough to bowl us over, but not half as bad as it could have been. We could recover fast enough at least.

"Damn, We were almost there..." I spat, cursing. _But how the hell are we gonna beat this thing? Last time it took all three of us together, and a crazy-huge mecha, and now it's just me and Papika..._

"Cocona!" Papika called, flying past me. _You idiot!_ She got slapped by a large red hand as she tried to get past the monster.

"Damn you..." _I don't care if you were almost impossible to defeat before, you're not keeping my best friend prisoner like that, and you're not gonna kill my newest friend either!_ I backflipped in the air surrounded by green lightning, trying to build up power for an attack, and charged with a super sonic boom. I was a blur of speed as I tried to force myself through the monster's head. _Destroy the head, destroy the monster!_

...I should have expected it really, but my attack did nothing. All the green energy that was fizzing from me became weak green sparks. I didn't even make a dent.

"Talk about hard..." I mumbled to myself. _But maybe I can hurt it. If I just try..._ At that point, I attempted what I did with Welwitschia, hopping in many different directions and attacking from all sides. _This thing's huge, but it's slow as hell, surely if I hit it enough we can do_ something...

After a number of strikes I landed on the ground. _I need bigger boots..._ Once again, my feet got even heavier. I've never held Yuyu's gauntlet before, but if I did, I'd imagine it felt as heavy and powerful as this. _And this_ has _to be able to do some damage!_ I launched myself into a great jump, aiming for the monster's throat, an aura of green energy surrounding me. I forced myself to go feet first, trying to pierce the monsters neck...

My feet caught for a second on its skin, as if I was trying to strike a hole in leather, but I made it through! _That_ has _to have hurt at least!_

"Come on! Cocona's right there!" Papika had been gathering energy of her own in that time, lifting a blue blob the size of a truck over her head, before letting it go. Her attack was slow to approach, but even if the monster wanted to dodge, there was no way it could have done so. Papika's attack struck home, and at first I was worried because it looked like it didn't do anything... that was before I saw the spark. It was small, but not for long. That tiny blue spark detonated, the resulting explosion the size of a house, and the black smoke cloud that followed even bigger...

"Gah!" I let out a cry as I was struck. In the time me and Papika had been focused on our attacks, the monster had made one of its own. All it did was swipe an arm at us, but if I wasn't transformed right now, the power behind it probably would ahve been enough to break all of my bones.

I was the first to regain my footing. Papika looked like she was on the verge of blacking out from the pain. I tried to catch her as carefully as I can, and said her name, trying to get her to wake up. _You can't die on me now..._

Groggily, she came to. Her eyes opened, and she gently wrestled away from my arms. I let her go and looked over at her, and was a little worried to see although she still had a will to fight in her eyes, her arms and legs were shaking. _She's been transformed this whole time... Asclepius ration or not, she has to be pretty tired from all of this. If she takes another hit, she might not make it..._ I turned my attention back to the monster, and saw a tree behind it, with Cocona trapped in a cage of roots. Whether the tree was part of another part of Pure Illusion, or Mimi had transformed the floating boat, I didn't know, but Mimi seemed to be taking Cocona with her everywhere...

I remembered Cocona's eyes, and how empty they looked when I tried to take her hand, before Mimi sent us to the incinerator... They were different now, which I was relieved to see. They were still glazed over, as if she couldn't really focus or see, but there seemed to be a just a little bit of life in there. _We must be getting through to her!_

_...Getting through to her..._

_Maybe there_ is _a way to stop this without defeating the monster..._

I turned to Papika. "Hey, listen to me. Shut up and follow my lead."

Looking back, I probably should have given a clearer order than just that, I had no idea if Papika would understand what I was thinking, but she's shown understanding before, getting Cocona to safety and leaving me when we were in Flip Flap's medical room, and I was hoping she'd know what I was getting at.

The monster's arm might not have broken my bones, but I definitely didn't have the strength to fly half as fast any more... Hell, honestly, I could barely get myself to move towards it... But if I could make myself a tempting enough target...

I detransformed.

"Yayaka!" Papika cried, concerned and confused.

_Don't worry about me. You can't take another hit, Papika..._

_But I can._

I stood there, defenceless in the air, and watched as the monster raised its right arm, ready to strike me down.

There was no telling if I'd be able to transform back in time before the arm made contact with me. If I didn't I was dead, and it would all be down to Papika.

_I'm doing this to save my new friend, the twins, and the person I treasure above all else!_

I was taking a complete gamble relying on the amorphous' transformation to come back again. I'd only done it successfully the once before after all, there was no guarentee I could do it again right now, but thinking of protecting the person I loved the most...

_I'm doing this for Cocona!_

...Was just about enough to save me. The transformation activated again a second before I was hit, the blow sending me to the ground far, far below.

"Yayaka!" Papika called for me, worried.

"Get past it!" I yelled back at her. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated her concern for me, but she can't rescue me. Not this time. _I'm trusting you here! Leave me and save Cocona!_

I watched as she hesitated in the air for a moment, before she grit her teeth and went for Cocona.

_Good girl._

I hit the ground with a hard 'SMACK' and everything went dark.

* * *

 

I don't know how long I was out cold for. It can't have been too long. All I know is when I woke up, the ground was covered in white clovers. Mimi was standing with her back to me, looking at Papika, who was kneeling on the ground. Both of them were facing towards Cocona, who was still in her tree-root cage.

Seeing Papika like that... she wasn't kneeling because she was tired. I can't really explain how I knew that, but even though I know she must have been exhausted, it... it was like she was in a trance.

"Papika!" Cocona was reaching through the bars of her cage, crying Papika's name, and getting no response. _Has Mimi got her under some kind of mind control? Cast a spell?_ I could picture Mimi with some kind of sneer on her face as she looked at the downed Papika. _Crapping hell, please tell me she's not going to execute her._

"Hey, Papika!" I yelled. _Was she aware what was going on?_ She had to have some idea of what the hell was happening around here, because I sure didn't. _Come on, you idiot, get going! Cocona's_ right there! _We didn't go through all that crap for you guys to remain seperated forever!_

Papika remained still...

And then her head twitched up.

_Go to her!_

A little unsteady, Papika got to her feet. And when she saw Cocona, she started running, hand outstretched. Cocona was the same, pushing her hand through the bars as far as it would go.

_You're almost there!_

"...Who do you think is letting you transform?"

Although she was standing quite a way away from me, with her back to me, her voice was as clear as crystal. Just as Papika had almost made it, blue light swirled around her... and she was back in her school uniform, her cyan hair pink, and any power she had was gone. She flopped forwards onto the ground in a heap.

Much like Papika, my transformation died at Mimi's words. My long green hair shrunk into its usual yellow, and all the power I felt rushing through me just... went. It felt like I was coming out of an adrenaline rush (which I guess in a way it was). The amorphous in my hand had gone from a luminous green to... a dead blue. The pain I've managed to mostly ignore until now was starting to creep into my body again.

_And if_ I _feel like this after being transformed for only a short time..._

_How is_ Papika _feeling?_

"Papika!" I've never heard Cocona's voice so distressed before. She knelt down on the ground, and wriggled, trying to get her hand as far out of the tree root cage as it could possibly go. "Come on, Papika!"

I was about to shout at Papika myself, hoping she'd respond to me if Cocona wasn't succeeding, but Papika shifted. Thankfully, she was still alive after Mimi's forced detransformation.

_If she could do that to us... What could she do to the twins if they were here?_ Being made entirely from amorphous and Mimi being able to shut down that power like that... Yeah, for once, I was glad the twins weren't with me on this adventure. I didn't want to think about what could have happened to them then.

"I love, love, _love_ you, Papika!" Cocona called.

Cocona's declaration of love for Papika hurt to hear, I'm not gonna lie, but at the same time, when they finally touched hands, and I saw the light dance around them... Seeing them standing there, together, in the forms granted by an entirely new transformation...

I couldn't deny it. Those two looked cute together.

"Why?" Mimi's voice was quiet, to start with. Weak. But as she repeated that word over and over, "Why?! WHY?!" It became a roar that echoed in my mind, an aura of red light flaring to life around her as she questioned her daughter's actions.

"Why won't you listen to me?!" Red lightning had struck the ground at that point, burning a circle in the white clovers at Mimi's feet, turning them to ash...

And then the ash began to rise...

I originally got pretty worried when I saw a monster, similar, if a whole lot smaller, to the one from Pop's world appear, but it turned out pretty quick that I didn't need to.

Cocona and Papika promptly punched it into the sky, in one swift motion before turning to each other with a fist bump and smiles.

_What kind of new power is this...?_

Whatever it was, Mimi wasn't happy about it...

* * *

 

_Authors note: Sorry, I know this chapter ends kinda suddenly, but that's pretty much how the episode ends and I had no idea what else I could have done/added that wouldn't have strayed into Episode 13 territory._

_I originally had a plan to squeeze an event in between Papika and Yayaka arriving in Pure Illusion, and them finding Cocona, but no matter how many times I re-wrote the scene, I just couldn't get it to work, so I just stuck with what happened in the anime._

_Also, I have a few different ideas for how to end this story. I've barely written 1.5k words of the final part, so it might be a while before its posted._


	17. Episode 13

Papika and Cocona stood there, looking adoringly at each other, holding hands. Their new gear looked completely different from the stuff Mimi's power gave them. Instead of a simple white and black cloth magical girl sort of outfit, now they had what looked more like armoured wedding dresses, close-fitting metal segments for the body, with a puffy skirt and long white boots for the legs. Their hair and eye colours remained the same as how they normally appeared, although Cocona's hair was adorned with a white tiara while Papika had a white flower in her hair. They both had wings too, Cocona's being pink, and Papika's a light green. I'd noticed before that all our magical girl style outfits had small wings, but these ones were a lot bigger. Made me think of a butterfly.

Papika jumped all of a sudden and wrapped Cocona in her arms, nuzzling up against her. Although Cocona hugged Papika in return, she seemed pretty flustered by such a big display of affection, and tried to gently push Papika away, scolding her. "Papika! Stop that!"

"But you said you love, love, _love_ me!"

"Th- That was..."

Seeing Cocona blushing shyly and shuffling nervously was adorable and I couldn't help but smile. _They look cute together, and they both transformed on their own without needing Mimi's power, and just punched out a huge monster as a team..._

"Those two really don't play fair..." I said. _My best friend has fallen in love._ _**((But it's not me she loves...))**_

I'd almost forgotten where we were and what was happening until Mimi spoke. "How dare you defy your mother... Children belong to their parents!"

A pair of shadowy monsters rose from the ground. Humanoid in shape, with thick legs, 4 necks (each of which adorned by a white mask with red eyes) and what looked like flippers for arms. I would have found that last detail laughable if it wasn't for the heads. They all twisted and flopped around on the ends of the necks, as if searching for something, the masks looking like menacing, grinning skulls. If you told me one of those things was pulled straight from the yuri-hell-school world, I'd have no problem believing you.

Papika was the first to move, taking a few hopping leaps to the monster closest to her. Her right fist's glove had a large blue crystal on the end of it, much like the one I saw when we were fighting the spiders in the oil-pastel-smelling world, only this time, it was glowing with bright yellow energy.

She landed a hit, that ripped a hole in the monster that easilly took out at least a third of it in that one strike.

Remind me to never piss off Papika.

Not long after Papika launched her attack, Cocona jumped into action as well. At first I didn't think there were any changes their physical appearance, beyond their armour in this new transformation, but I swear Cocona's hair was a little longer. It billowed out behind her, as she summoned a long diamond blade, before she sliced the other monster in two with a single swing.

Both the monsters spurted blood like a fountain where they were wounded.

But only for a moment.

Time rewound itself in the space the two monsters were standing, pulling back all the severed parts until they were whole beings again.

"Bad girls must be punished..." Mimi's voice was harsh. Her head was bowed, clearly unhappy with what was happening, "And I won't stop until you become a good girl!" She raised her head at that moment-

Man, I thought the girls at the yuri-hell-school were creepy, that was _nothing_ on Mimi right now. Her eyes were glowing, a piercing bright red, a sharp contrast to her pale skin, and the pupils of them were slits, like a reptile's. Her skin was dried and cracked, as if it were land that'd never seen rain... It wasn't entirely still either, the skin was slowly splitting apart on her face, and something else was pushing its way through, like an entirely new head was emerging.

I didn't need any more nightmare fuel in my life, I have plenty of that already, so I turned my attention back to Cocona and Papika. The heads of the shadowy golems were lashing around wildly, before they extended. Skeletal faces were being whipped around, eager to hunt down the two magical girls. Both of them had managed to get away pretty easy, despite having so many things to dodge.

Papika managed to sever heads from necks as she flew around, trails of yellow light flaring from her hand as she struck. Cocona, although managing, looked like she was having trouble. She'd managed to slash a few of the creature's necks, right down the middle, but it wasn't enough damage to get them to stop chasing her. All the while this was going on, Mimi sounded as if she was chanting a mantra of madness about Cocona only belonging to her.

_**((I belong at Cocona's side. She should be mine.))** _

"Stop this, Mum!" Cocona shouted, but her efforts wre futile. _Mimi's too far gone..._

"I won't go away, and I won't let you go." Mimi was clutching her arms, as if she was being tortured and was trying to ignore the pain, as the skin on her face continued to peel away. She didn't look like that for too long though, as Mimi's face elongated, and a snakes head burst through all the shedding skin.

"YOU WILL NEVER GET AWAY FROM ME!" Mimi's teeth were as long as kitchen knives. I was half expecting her to enter combat herself and try and bite Papika to death. She didn't, thankfully, but still, I'd need to be ready in case she attacked as well.

Cocona screamed at that point. I turned to look back at the fight that was still happening. One of the skull faces had managed to clamp its teeth down on her leg, and it wasn't letting go. Papika was busy trying to deal with monsters herself and hadn't noticed. _It's down to me to save her._ I reached down to my weapon belt and went to fire a rocket-

_Crap, that's right, Flip Flap took them away._ What _did_ I have? I could just take the belt off and throw that I guess, but there was no way in hell it'd reach that high, no matter how hard I flung t. _The amorphous?_ No, if I threw that, Mimi could probably destroy it, or take it for herself, and she _really_ didn't need any extra power right about now. I caught sight of the little silver chain in my hands, and that reminded me: Pockets. _I have pockets. Anything I can use?_ I clipped the silver chain to my weapon belt and had a quick rummage through my pockets, but beyond the copy of my sweater that Yuyu gave me back in the alternate Pure Illusion which I'd completely forgotten about I wouldn't find anything that could-

_No wait... What's that?_

I pulled it out, and saw the screen of my phone blink on. _No wonder I can never find the damn thing._ I could never remember half of the things I kept in here...

_But I had a weapon._

I never knew where the hell this thing was half of the time, so I doubt I'd miss it in the slightest. It probably wouldn't do much at all, but it was all I had.

My phone sailed into the air as I threw it as hard as I could at the monster that'd snagged Cocona's leg. For one horrifying moment, I thought my aim was off and that I'd missed completely, when I saw the screen glint in the sun before it bounced off the monster's neck. I doubt I even hurt it, but it let go of Cocona, and that was all I wanted to happen.

"Yayaka!" Papika called my name, urgent. I wondered why, until I heard the loud hissing breath behind me. I turned to see a red-eyed skull, upside down, twisting its way towards me. _Empty skulls, burnt skulls..._

Everything went in slow motion for a second there, as haunting memories of that burning land came back to me...

And then I was scooped up into someones arms and pulled out of the way. I've only been hugged by Cocona a few times, but I knew without needing to turn that it was her that rescued me.

_**((Where I belong... Next to her, where I loved to be...))** _

My heart was already beating pretty hard from my panic of trying to find something to help Cocona with, and here I was, flying in the air, with only her arms stopping me from falling to my death... _Calm down. You're safe. You're fine..._ As much as I tried to tell myself that, my heart rate wasn't slowing down any time soon. Although Cocona had saved my life, the fact it was her that grabbed me wasn't quite helping my panic right now. _Calm down, Yayaka. Calm. Don't freak out..._

"This is bad. There's no end to them" _No end... So many skulls... And the monsters just keep coming... Take them down, and Mimi will just build them back up._ _ **((They'll take Cocona away from you.))**_ _Calm down, Yayaka... Deep breaths..._

Cocona landed and gently let me down onto solid ground, before she took up a spot standing next to me. I was about to ask her something, when I saw another white skull bearing down on us. _No time!_ Cocona hopped away, and I started running, as the skull burried itself in the earth where I'd been standing just a moment before. Thankfully, when Mimi took the amorphous' power away from me, I still remained as healed as I was before I transformed, my injuries hadn't suddenly all come rushing back to me, so running was easy. _Hell, with no weapons, it's pretty much the only thing I can do now. Just run and stay out the way._ At least I could try and run the anxiety off. _Just focus on that for now._

"Stop it, Mimi!" Papika shouted, distressed "Don't be mean to Cocona!"

"What? This is my affection. A mother's love. All for Cocona."

"Mum!"

"Cocona, Cocona, my dear, Cocona... Let me have a better look at your face!"

I couldn't really afford to look at what was going on, as I was worried what would happen if I stopped running at all. I didn't even know if I was under attack any more.

Something happened though that stopped me in my tracks. It was probably dumb that I stopped running, but the pale blue sky that was above us was being blotted out in a wave of inky blackness, and the change was enough to make me stop and stare. Not only that, but the white clovers below us had turned dark too, as if the tiny shadows they cast before had overwhelmed them and drained them of their colour. Some of the clovers had sprouted and grown, their tiny leaves splitting outwards in a fan, to become branches, and their stalks thickening into rough bark, writhing in place, as if this transformation caused them pain. All the trees cracked down the middle, opening into vicious maws and hollow eyes. They didn't make a move to attack, not yet at least, but the way those branches, grasping and reaching like claws, and the fact the trees were all swaying unaturally as if a part of a ritual... yeah, I was pretty glad they were just trees, and nothing more. If they got up and started moving though, we were screwed.

Man, I wish I could transform. Being such a sitting duck like this is driving me nuts. I tucked the amorphous away in one of my pockets, as I didn't really have any use for it at the moment.

The temperature had dropped here, too. It might have been because the sky went dark, or it might have been something to do with the trees (they had mouths, maybe they could breathe), but a creeping coldness started to curl around us.

"I'm getting chills..." I thought out loud. _Yeah, Yuyu must've definitely puched out the temperature regulator in this thing._ I hugged myself, in an attempt to block out the coldness, wishing I hadn't thrown my cape at Welwitschia.

"I want to go home..." I just about managed to catch Cocona's voice from where she was standing behind me. _We need to stop Mimi... but how? Cocona wouldn't want to hurt her mother, Papika seemed reluctant too... Could I hurt Mimi knowing how long Cocona's wanted to know her family?_

...I didn't think so, or I seriously didn't want to at least... I've had enough of playing the bad guy, and I really didn't want to do it again. _But if it was the only way to stop all of this... To save Cocona..._

Thankfully, I never had to act on those thoughts. A high-pitched whine filled the area with noise. Almost as suddenly as the world around us changed, and the trees appeared, they started to flake away, along with the darkened sky, falling away like burning paper. Mimi, who was standing on the spot watching all of us, suddenly became a lot more animated. The noise seemed to throw her off. She tried to step in one direction, only to whip around to try and walk the other way, so she ended up stamping, and her shoulders tensed up. If we didn't have to worry about Mimi's attention shifting towards us again, I probably would have chuckled at the fact she was stomping around like a dinosaur.

"Who's there?! Stay out!" She shouted, as if trying to drown out the whine with her own voice. She spun around, trying to locate whatever was disrupting her powers. "I'm telling you to stay away! STAY OUT!"

The world shifted as someone else stepped onto the scene. Similar to before, the sky and the clovers at our feet changed colour, but instead of the outright darkness before, it was more like everything had been dipped into a black and white filter. The trees in the forest glade we were standing in lost their leaves, as if they were just being erased from the banches where the colour faded from them.

I was pretty surprised to see the new arrival: Doctor Salt. _How the hell did he even get here?_ He was alone, and there was no sign of him holding an amorphous... _He worked for Asclepius at one point... Maybe there was something he knew about or discovered... But if there was, why didn't Asclepius use it themselves?_

"Why are you here?" She sounded agitated upon seeing him.

Salt stood there amongst the greyness, his coat hanging loosely from his shoulders. Just like before, he seemed heavy, and the words he spoke seemed to explain why, "To atone." _There's a lot of history here I don't know about..._

"After being so indescisive, now you decide to get in my way?" Mimi sounded resentful.

"That's right." Salt answered, simply, "And I'm not about to beg forgiveness."

Mimi seemed taken aback by this. She grit her teeth in anger. "Always doing whatever you want! You're despicable! Go away! GET LOST!" A red aura of light flowed around Mimi, before it burst outwards from her. The grey which washed the world moments ago, once again, flooded into colour, as Mimi seemed to be gaining control again... But her anger was only directed towards Salt, and he was struck by an invisible attack.

"Salt!" Papika, cried, worried.

"Salt-san..." for a second I wondered why Cocona refered to him like that, and then I remembered. She doesn't know Salt's her father. To her, he's just the leader of Flip Flap, but she was just as worried about him as Papika was.

There didn't seem to be much of a need for all the concern though. Salt's sunglasses were the only thing of him that had taken damage. He looked just as surprised as I felt, having survived the assault... Then I became surprised for another reason: There was another Mimi standing next to him. _Two Mimis?_ I mean, I didn't know much about what the hell was going on here in the first place, but this was just plain confusing. _I_ did _run into doubles of someone else in Pure Illusion once before though..._ I thought about Yuyu and Yuya down at the lake. Although they were identical, only one of them turned out to be real, and the other... must have been some kind of darker side to her... _But the darker side of her transformed into Mimi..._ I shook my head, trying to clear it. _Geez, this is confusing..._

"Mimi!" Salt looked at the person standing next to him. The new Mimi's eyes were red, but more like a rose's petals, and they shone upon the sight of him.

"It's been too long, Salt," She said, a light smile on her face as they looked at each other. Then her face turned a little grumpy, but playful, "I hate being kept waiting, you know," she said as she turned away, a little shy. Salt could only stare at her in disbelief at the new arrival. _She must have saved him from the attack..._

CRACK!

Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet began to rumble and shake. A hole opened up, leading to a deep red abyss, as the land below us began to shatter.

"Why...? Why won't any of you understand? I was only doting on Cocona, my daughter!" The dark Mimi's voice was just about audible over the sound of the crumbling world. _Dark Mimi... Darkness, yami... Yamimi..._ I figured coming up with a new name for her would make things less confusing... and also made me wonder, _all those Cocona's back in that alternate Pure Illusion... Were they all just different sides to her?_

A patch of trees behind Yamimi tumbled, and fell into the void below.

"What now?" in my new panic, I'd voiced that thought out loud. _Is she gonna tear up this whole place?_

The land I was standing on dropped suddenly. My arms rose into the air, as I was caught off guard. There was no hope of me reaching anything to grab onto. I was standing directly in the middle of the land that was taken away from me, running to the edge to try and save myself was impossible too, I had no solid surface for my feet to touch.

"Yayaka!" I heard Cocona call my name, but fear must have froze her. Despite sounding so concerned, she didn't make a move towards me. _Why should she though? Our friendship was built on a lie, and she probably hates me..._

I felt like I was back in the tetris-block world. All of the land that could save me was drifing fast, and far, out of my reach. The wind was pushing against my arms too hard for me to lower them to my weapon belt and fire off a grappling wire (not that I think I had any left now, and even then I was probably way too far out of range of anything). The endless space below me yawned. If it had arms, I'd imagine them to be spread wide, to welcome me into the depths.

_This is it..._

_I'm gone..._

"I love you, Cocona." The words were barely a whisper on my lips. There was no way in hell she could hear me from this distance, and I doubted she could read my lips from how little my mouth moved either. I closed my eyes.

_The one time I can get myself to say it out loud, and she won't hear it..._

I gasped with shock as I hit something... No, that's not right. I didn't hit something, _something caught me._ The sound of cloth flapped in the wind, and I caught sight of something grey. _Is that my cape? But who's wearing it?_

My eyes were wide with fear from the fall. Some expectant, hopeful, part of me thought for a second it was Cocona that'd come to save me. Imagine my shock when I looked up at a green furry face with deep black eyes, and thick white hair.

"W-Who are you?" I could only stammer at the stranger who'd saved me. Something seemed a little familiar about them, but I couldn't place what. They smiled at me, as they leapt from floating rock to floating rock, with a power to them that could rival mine, Cocona's or Papika's when transformed... But they didnt' have an armorphous on them. _They must have some damn powerful legs..._

And that's when I saw the two tall ears raising from his head.

_Powerful legs... green fur... black eyes... Big ears..._

_Is this Uexkull?_

Whoever it was, they got me back to safety and set me down on some land near the patch Cocona and Papika were standing on. Cocona's face lit up at the sight of me, safe and sound.

"Mimi!" Papika yelled, towards Yamimi before shaking her head. "No! You're not Mimi!"

Yamimi stared blankly, those dangerous red eyes staring, almost empty, back at Papika. Her skin looked paler too, as if she was merely a ghost, rather than something solid "I am Mimi," She replied. "A side of hers that you don't know." ...I swear it was my imagintion, but at that point the form of Mimi... shimmered, and I thought I saw someone else standing there.

"Even then, Mimi would never do anything to make Cocona sad!" Papika said, before she yelled "And I hate you for this!" Once again, I felt the strong bond between me and Papika flare up. _We both want to protect Cocona, and we'll do anything to save her... Even if it means standing against her own mother._ I admired Papika for being brave enough to say she hated who she thought was the real Mimi (I guess Yamimi is a darker side of Mimi, so is still Mimi... this is getting confusing.) But yeah, hearing Papika say that I wanted nothing more than to cheer her on in that moment...

But a thought crept into my mind.

_We can both transform if we think of Cocona..._

_Who does Cocona think of when she transforms...?_

As much as I'd hope otherwise, I knew it was Papika. _**((It should be me... But it could never be me...))**_ My best friend and my newest friend. A team so powerful, and a love so deep and strong, _**((something I will never have))**_ they could transform by themselves without needing amorphous to boost them.

"So selfish. Both you and Cocona." Yamimi's voice broke into my thoughts. Her eyes were closed, and her voice dripping with dissaproval.

"...Mum?" Cocona sounded so hurt, it was almost enough to send me into a rage that'd lead me to certain death. The temptation to deal a nice solid punch to Yamimi's face, for saying such a thing to the kindest person on the planet, was so very great, that if I wasn't feeling drained from everything that'd happened today, I would have charged right then and there. Instead, all I could do was shake on the spot with anger (and maybe still a little bit of fear mixed in from my fall earlier).

"But it's all right now," Yamimi said, "I was wrong." A small smile appeared on her face, as her red eyes opened, happy with the solution to this situation she was about to announce.

"I'll destroy everything and rebuild it anew. I know all about it" the smile on her face had worked its way into her voice, and it sounded a little like she wanted to laugh. "These are the words, right?"

_Wait... 'The words'? What words?_

"Flip..."

_...Oh._

_SHIT!_

"...Flapping."

Yamimi's eyes glowed, until she was swallowed in a deep red light. Some stupid part of me had hoped for a minute that her transformation had gone horribly wrong and that she'd ended up destroying herself, but no such luck. Black fire wreathed around her body, and with it, her white dress burnt black, into... well, I don't quite know how to describe it. If Papika dressed like some sorta princess of music idol when she first transfered into school, then Yamimi looked the opposite of that in every way.

An evil rock star queen I guess, compared to the regular princess.

"Now, let's get rid of all the useless trash..." Yamimi's eyes were full of hatred and vengence, before she let out a red energy attack that blasted Papika away. Looking over the edge, I saw Papika there, trying to shield herself with her arms, with shards of what I'd guess were once a barrier she'd made to defend herself from the main hit. It didn't stop her though from shooting into the abyss below. I'd guess, like me earlier, the sheer force at which she was moving had locked her in position.

"Papika!" Cocona cried, as she too, watched Papika fall.

Yamimi's right hand had turned into a large dark sword. With Papika out of the way, she went to attack Cocona and shoved her over the edge.

_Okay, now I'm_ really _pissed off._

"Lemme go!" As if sensing what I desperately wanted to do, Uexkull had grabbed my arms from behind, pinning me so I couldn't move, clearing having more common sense than I did in the situation. I no longer cared if Yamimi was Cocona's family, even if just a darker side of her mother that'd somehow split and become its own person here, and I didn't care if it would make me the bad guy, if I wasn't as weak as I was, I would have ripped my way free from Uexkull's grip and thrown myself at Yamimi, regardless of what happened to me.

At that point, everything shifted slightly. Like, the whole world was in a car, and all of a sudden the person driving hit the brakes, and we were all momentarilly thrown forwards with the force of it stopping.

Then the land juddered...

And slowly started to rise...

I turned to see why...

Yamimi had summoned a black hole.

The floating platform me and Uexkull were standing on was crumbling into oblivion, as was every other segment of land.

_She doesn't even care about Cocona any more. She's gonna wipe out Pure Illusion, and maybe even the real world with it..._

_What the crap can we do?_

Suddenly a bright gold light shone from below. I looked down to see Cocona and Papika at its center. The bond between the three of us grew, and the light around them became brighter, as they rose into the sky to meet the black hole. _All of us want to stop this. We're going to take Yamimi down, and save the damn world._ I know my part of the bond was weak, I couldn't really do anything without the amorphous' power (which I was pretty sure was still shut down by Yamimi), but I know, if I could have transformed right then, I'd be right there with them. Annoyingly, I could only go together with them in spirit.

"GET HER!" I yelled, as loudly as I could, punching the air in encouragement, having managed to free one of my arms from Uexkull. I didn't know if they could hear me at all, and although Papika and Cocona were getting further and further away from me, as they rose to meet Yamimi, I swear I could see them both look at me, with a smile in their eyes. I returned their smile with one of my own.

_Go get her..._

The light from Cocona and Papika soon filled the whole world...

It felt a little like everything stopped for a moment. Everything was completely still...

And then the golden light was gone.

* * *

When if felt like time returned to normal again, the islands of land in the sky hovered for a moment... before began to make their way back to the ground. They were crashing, falling into water far, far below, but beyond that, don't quite ask me how, but somehow, things felt... _right_ again.

_They did it._

The fight was over.

The Flip Flappers had won.

But the world here was still falling apart.

"Where's the exit?" Uexkull must have been able to understand what I was saying, as he started hopping from land to land. He must've spotted something I couldn't see, as he seemed to be going in a straight line.

"There..." I said to myself, as soon as I spotted it. Much like before when me and Papika went into Pure Illusion to get here, a black Hole had opened up in the sky, although this one didn't have any fire around it. _Do Papika and Cocona know the way out is up here?_

"You guys hurry up too!" I shouted down to them.

Just as we went through the Hole, Uexkull shrunk down, until he was just a small green rabbit in my arms. I grabbed him.

_We were going back to the real world..._

* * *

Or that was what I thought. Pure Illusion seemed to have different plans.

Whether it was some weird leftover of Yamimi's power, or just some freak occurence, all I knew is that when I looked at my surroundings, I was somewhere I thought would be completely impossible to end up back at again. A dark room, completely enclosed. Everything was neat and smooth, no entrances, exits or windows...

Just a mirror.

_Cocoro's room? What am I doing back here?_

I squinted at the mirror, suspicious. There was something wrong with it this time... It looked identical, but... I don't know, something about it just gave me a really bad feeling.

But all I could do was approach. There was nothing else in the room I could interact with, and I doubted there'd be any other way out unless I faced whatever was on the other side of the glass.

The only reflection I could see this time in the mirror was my own. Moving my arm, all was normal... Until I caught sight of the eyes of the Mirror Yayaka.

Red.

The sight of them was enough to make me take a step back. _That's not right._

_**((You belong with Cocona))**_ The red-eyed reflections' lips moved, but the voice echoed in my head, loud and heavy. And mine _._ It was talking with _my_ voice.

I shook my head at my reflection. It didn't copy me. It glared. _**((Isn't she the whole reason You're here in the first place? She was your friend first))**_

_Yes, she was my friend first... But that's not a reason to tear the two of them apart. Papika and Cocona are my friends, and they're in love, and I'm happy for them!_

_**((Are you going to let Papika take away the only good thing in your life?))** _

_Papika won't take her away from me!_

_**((How can you know? That day at the school pool, didn't Papika do just that?))** _

_But we're friends now!_

_**((You'll have to see them together. Can you handle that?))** _

That comment made me look away from the red-eyed Yayaka in the mirror. _I don't know._ Honestly, I really am happy for them, but thinking about them being together... All those gentle and loving looks Cocona gives Papika, them standing there holding hands, and Papika hugging Cocona wearing armour that looked like friggin' wedding dresses... Thinking about it kinda broke my heart.

_Cocona's found her knight, and it's not me..._

I realised far too late how I felt towards Cocona, and even when I finally worked out what it was, I could never say it. Even if I did, Papika was in the picture by then...

_**((You belong at Cocona's side. It should be you))** _

_But it can never be me... Cocona's my best friend. Someone who was terrified of making her own choices, because she was scared of failure. She asked my help for her stories sometimes, because she didn't know where she wanted to take them. Now she's made a choice, and it'll be one of many. She's chosen Papika. As much as I wish it was me she was with, it can't be. No matter how much I might want it..._

_**((But it** _ **can** _**be you))** _

That made me look back up. I shouldn't be listening to the me in the mirror. I should have smashed it the instant I saw it... But there was something it said it could give me. Something I've wanted my whole life.

I wanted to deny everything mirror me was saying. My fist should be rammed right through my red-eyed face, until it was just shards on the floor. It was speaking thoughts I thought could bury, deep at the back of my mind, with feelings I thought I could try and ignore...

_**((After everything you've been through with Asclepius, shouldn't you get something for all your trouble?))** _

_Asclepius have messed up my entire life, taking me form the orphanage and turning me into a pawn for their stupid mission to control Pure Illusion. I could have just been a regular kid at school, I could have had more friends than just Cocona, I could have actually joined sports teams if I wanted to. I wouldn't have had to 'go home' sick from school just to be sent into another damn world, half of which would have probably killed me. I could have had real food, instead of all those stupid tasteless Asclepius rations..._

_I could have had so much._

_And Asclepius took it all away from me._

_Even if they gave me a friend in Cocona, it was all a lie to start with._

_They'd destroyed the only friendship I was allowed..._

_Taken away any normal life I could have had..._

I should have dismissed the mirror right away. Left it behind. I came here before when I had a dream in Pure Illusion, I should have tried to get myself to wake up.

But I was still listening.

Tempted.

Common sense was telling me to stop talking right now, but curiousity wanted to know: _...How can I change things?_

The red-eyed Yayaka smirked, victorious in the fact she had my attention, as she gave her answer:

_**((Switch with me))** _

* * *

_Authors note: I wanted to make the ending chapter/ending in general a LOT longer, hence why this took so long to post despite its short length, but in the end, no matter what I typed, I felt it'd be best to leave it there. It's the perfect 'cliffhanger' for a potential sequel to Flip Flappers, I have a few ideas already of things that'll happen in the future, but for now? This is where things end, and how my fic Pure Voice ends. It may not be the ending some of you were looking for, but it's the one I felt worked best for what I have planned for future... I'm hoping I can write a sequel to Flip Flappers, it's the whole damn reason I wrote this thing in the first place, because I had an idea for a sequel for the show, that was very reliant on Yayaka (although saying that, I've come up with a few other ideas since that initial thought, but still.) It may be a little while before I'd get around to writing/posting it, but I'm very much hoping it's a thing I'll do. I've completed one new story for the first time in 10 years, so surely I can do another, right?  
_

_Either way, to everyone who's made it this far in my fic, I sincerely thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed the story, despite it being a little messy in places._

_Speaking of thanks, I'd like to thank my dear friend, Songficcer. He's the reason I've posted this story online in the first place, and encouraged me to keep going with it, even when I felt like giving up. Heck, he's done that for a lot of things in my life... If I hadn't met him, I don't know where I'd be today, and I know I certainly wouldn't have written this or posted it online without him to nudge me towards doing so. I'm not sure if he'll ever read this at all, but just in case he happens to stray by, then I'd like to thank him too. So... thank you, Song. For everything._


End file.
